Original
by Espionage Commitment
Summary: Mayu opens her eyes. This is the final installment of my 7 Deadly Sins vocaloid series. You will have NO IDEA what's going on if you haven't read the other parts. Sorry about that.
1. The Bet

**Pssst, this is the last part of a long Vocaloid series of fanfiction. You will not know at all what is going on if you don't read the other parts, unfortunately. Please heed this warning. My apologies.**

I knew these people.

And not like the we-bump-into-each-other-at-the-well-or-the-grocery-store-or-the-shrine—wait, what?

My head hurt.

It really hurt.

I knew these people. I knew them like I knew my own face. Right there, right next to me was Kaito. Kaito and I never got to know each other too intimately, but he was a good person—

"I'll have everything, absolutely everything, as Mothy promised. Everything a mortal desires."

Or was he? Oh, my head. My head. Calm down. Let's go over what we know.

It was dark in here, pitch black, and yet I could see everyone perfectly. It was like we were all our own light source. Our outfits were peculiar, and our bodies were young. I would say I was fifteen or so. My dress was oddly familiar, black with red ribbons and a piano design along the hem. There people next to me. We made a semi-circle around nothing. Next to me was Kaito, and then there was Gumi.

"Besides, you don't want to see me when I'm angry."

Oh, Lord, where did that come from? I could see her face as she said that to me on a wintry sidewalk in the city. She died later that same winter, and yet there she was, blinking violently and looking around like the rest of us. No one had spoken yet. After Gumi, there was Miku then Luka then Meiko then Gakupo. My heart was pounding.

"Everyone is so tired in Toragay."

"It was like he was talking to a stranger, isn't that funny?"

"I've been known to eat any foreign meal presented to me."

"And was she able to be… reinforced?"

I knew these people. They were all my friends. My family. And yet fear filled me up to the brim.

"I said, take care of the body."

Rin came next, followed by one more, the one more I was dreading and longing to see the most, at the other end of the half-circle, directly across from me. He was lurking at the back of my mind the whole time, because in every story, in every memory of all these people, he was there, a force in my life, dead or alive. When my eyes met his, every fiber of my body screamed at once, "Len!"

All confusion ceased. My head stopped aching. Automatically, I tried to stand so I could go to him, but my legs wobbled. I collapsed back down. Panic spread across his face, his young face. God, he was so young.

"Welcome to eternity, my friends. I hope you're prepared for the long haul."

I didn't want to look away from Len, but that voice was also familiar. Nerves sending jolts through my body with every breath, I looked upon Mothy as she floated in front of us. Not quite floated—it was more like she was standing on something we couldn't see. A podium made out of darkness. She was dressed almost like she was in mourning. Black dress that covered her feet, black veil. Blue eyes. Cold eyes. Her outfit seemed medieval. The first word that crossed my mind was "witch." Still, no one spoke.

"You all look like children when you stare at me like that. What happened to all the defiance of a few moments ago?" she asked.

"M-Milady," Kaito rasped. He attempted to get up but, like me, could not muster the energy. "I did your bidding, just as instructed. I performed perfectly. May I now t-take my place at your—"

"Shut up, you pitiful creature. Do you know how bothersome it is to explain the obvious to you?" she snapped.

He clenched his jaw, the cruel truth dawning on him like a plague. Whatever she promised him was simply a lie. Obviously. He killed us all for nothing. Fury grappled with my heart. He killed us all… for nothing? How stupid! How idiotic!

"Fool," Gumi said, managing to rest on one knee. A black cloak adorned her like a tent, and with her right hand she placed a malicious mask on her face. Yet she trembled like the rest of us. Our memories were too expansive; they threatened to burst us open. "You were never her equal. You were too late to the game."

"Ha! Equal," Mothy—if that was truly her name—scoffed. "Like you are one to talk of equals." She raised a gaunt hand. There was no smoke or noise or anything at all, but one moment Gumi's little cult cloak and mask were there and the next they weren't.

Gumi fell back, disbelief coating her face. "What? After everything I've done for you? You couldn't have done this alone!" she shouted.

"Alone? You're right. I could not have, but to think you were my apprentice—that I would stand with a human with no semblance of real power for the rest of eternity—you are delusional."

"So, there was someone else? Tell me who it was!" Gumi demanded.

"She wishes to remain anonymous."

I stared down at my hands. Clench. Unclench. It couldn't be…

"W-Wait, eternity?" Miku squeaked. "I don't exactly know what's going on."

"We're dead," Meiko answered for her. "That much is obvious. I don't know why we lived so many lives or why I did… some of the things I did, but we must be at a juncture of the afterlife."

"Dead. We're finally dead," Luka said.

"You sound excited about it," Rin jeered.

"What now?" I asked quietly. Everyone ceased their glaring at one another and was truck silent.

"Finally. A decent question," Mothy said. "For the sins you committed in life, I have forced by the laws of the universe to deliver you into punishment. Yes, your existences have been rather unconventional, but rules are rules. It's all your faults, no matter how you look at it."

"I-I understand we did horrible things," Gakupo interjected. "However… I don't know how to explain it. It was like I was possessed or something."

"Ah, yes. That was the side effect of the sins. We needed to experiment with them, you see, after they were released into the world. It was massively entertaining."

Miku shuddered. "I-I still don't understand—"

"You don't need to understand." She looked down upon us like worms. "Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, it is time for divine retribution. You have sinned in all ways imaginable, and the world will be happy to be rid of you. Take a long look at your fellow creature. It is the last you will see any of them."

"Wait—!" I yelled.

And they were like the cloak. One moment there, the next gone.

But I… was still here? "What? Where did they go?" I stared at the spot where Len used to be. The room grew cold.

"Mayu," Mothy said.

"Where did they go?" I repeated.

"Where all people like them go. Down."

My muscles felt lighter. I knew I could stand now if I really wanted to, but my heart weighed me down more than any sorcery. "That's not possible. They're good people."

"Good? Ha! Have you forgotten everything?" The room, if I could call it that, began to tremor and ladder came out of nowhere, clamoring down to the ground at my feet. I looked up. It went up into the ceiling, where there was only a square of bright white light. "Well, I sadly cannot keep you here, according to law. I would if I could, but you have not done enough in your lives to chain you here. Go on up. There are many preparations that need to be made."

"You're saying that's heaven right there?" I asked.

"Some call it that. All rainbows and chocolate or whatever. I wouldn't know. I'm forbidden to travel in those realms." Mothy gracefully stepped down from her invisible podium and came nearer. "But no matter what is up there, I am sure it is far better than the fates of those in this one."

"What are you talking about? Len and Rin and Miku and everyone are just the same as me. They're good people."

"Not this again. They are not good people. They have murdered and raped and ruined everything they have come into contact with."

"That's not true. Yes, they have done all those things, but I have the feeling—no, I know it is not their faults! You have made them live seven lives. Does one bad one erase all the good ones?" All of this was simply not possible. Heaven? Hell? Sins and realms and magic? This woman, telling me my friends deserve eternal punishment? Telling me Len deserves eternal punishment?

"The sins in that one life of seven equates to more than ten thousand lives of sin. Do not argue with me. Climb the ladder."

"No!" I yelled, getting to my feet. "Take me where they are!"

"I cannot. It would be against the rules."

"Why am I even here? Why did you take me with them just so you can rip them away from me at the end?"

Mothy frowned. "I cannot tell you that."

"Bullshit!"

"Cursing, what an unbecoming sin. However, it is not enough to keep you here."

"Tell me why I'm here! Tell me why you called them Pride, Lust, everything! I deserve an answer!"

"And I deserve a vacation. We don't always get what we deserve, Mayu."

"Len didn't do anything wrong!"

"Len murdered Miku. Did you forget? He is half of Pride. There is no escaping this fate."

"Enough!" That voice nearly knocked me back to the ground. Our new visitor appeared behind Mothy just as the others disappeared, suddenly and without warning. She stepped forward, looking at me with sad eyes. "I think she should know the truth."

"Yu-Yuka," I said as steadily as I could muster.

"You are oddly calm," commented Mothy, "considering your best friend is standing by my side."

"I… expected this, as soon as you said you really had another accomplice. There was no one else who it could have been," I replied. Yuka, Gumi's cloak around her shoulders, did not meet my eyes. "Well, I'm ready for an explanation, preferably before I lose it."

"I did not want it to turn out this way," Yuka said. "I only wanted to give you another life."

"From the beginning, please. No more cryptic messages." My voice cracked. Yuka, my friend. My friend. I ached.

"The beginning is too far back, but I suppose I will start with the Capital and the execution of the supposed Queen Rin." The memories pulled at my conscience. "You did not recover after you helped Len die. Your life was miserable, let's face it. I was assigned to observe and pull the strings where I needed to, in order to properly entertain my mistress. I did not expect to become friends with you in childhood. My feelings then were true. Anyway, as your life drew to a close, I felt at fault for inviting you to the castle and ruining your life. So, I asked Mothy to allow you a second chance in a new life, where you could be truly happy."

"And I obliged, like the giver that I am," Mothy interjected.

"However, that second life put you through even more hardship than the first. You did recover, though, and I was prepared to let you die."

"And that's where her part in your fate ends," Mothy said. "The rest was mostly me. It's hard to explain, but I found your existence very entertaining. You stood for everything I was against and vice versa. You were kind of like a challenge. As you tried to save as many people as you could and bring joy into their lives, I tried to set things up so people could die and despair would be brought into their lives. I sustained some losses and victories, but overall it made the whole experience very much worth it. I would have been very bored without you, Mayu. Thank you."

"Th-Thank you? You're thanking me?" Was this sort of fury even possible? This fire in my chest? All of the hardships I had to endure and watch my friends endure was really all their faults? Mothy's, yes I could believe that, but Yuka? Not Yuka. Not my friend.

"Now that you know the truth, has your spirit broken enough? Will you please go up the ladder?" Mothy pleaded. I had never seen her so loose before. It was like she was right at home here, injecting misery into others.

I kept my eyes fixed on the ground. To go up that ladder would mean abandoning them. To go up that ladder meant eternity without my family, and they were all my family, no matter how much pain they caused me. I could see it clearly, life up there without them, without Len. I didn't want happiness without Len. I didn't want…

"A bet," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" Mothy asked.

"A bet," I said louder. "You say this was for your entertainment, then let me entertain you more. I challenge you to a bet."

"A bet?" She laughed. "You are serious?"

"If I can prove that they are good people, people who are meant to go up that ladder, then that would mean you would be breaking the law by keeping them here."

"Mayu, stop," Yuka said.

I ignored her. "Mothy, what do you say?"

She paced back and forth several times. "Unfortunately, that is not how it works."

"Why not?"

A few more paces. "I'm not sure. Maybe—wait, give me a moment." She clapped her hands once, and then there was a book sitting in them. She rifled around, reading a language which seemed like garbled symbols to me.

"You can't be considering this," Yuka said to her.

"You are breaking my concentration, apprentice. You have no power over me." She closed the book, closed her eyes a moment, and then opened them with a smile spreading wide across her face. "I have a marvelous idea."

"What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"I have devised a game. If you win this game, you can take your friends wherever you please. If you lose, you will be trapped down here as well."

"Deal," I agreed immediately.

"Mayu!" Yuka snapped. Her eyes grew big with worry, but I did not care enough to rescind.

"Wait until I tell you the rules, at least," Mothy said with a grin. "The terms for victory are as follows: 1. You must prove to me and to yourself that these people deserve forgiveness. 2. As you have always been a little detective, you must figure out why the seven deadly sins have manifested here and 3. You must collect the artifacts which I have listed here." A piece of paper fluttered down from above me and landed in my hands.

The stone

The flower

The seed

The spring

The wind

The forest

The soil

"Sounds like a videogame," I muttered.

"You will be traveling through a labyrinth of my own mind. I win if any of your innocent friends kill each other or you concede defeat. I also win if you tell anyone about our arrangement. Does this sound fair?"

"Surprisingly so," I replied.

"And if anyone should 'die' by means other than each other, the dead person will be taken back into my care and could not be rescued under any circumstances."

"What other means of death are there in this labyrinth?"

"Only the mind, Mayu. Only the mind."

"Mayu, you are smart enough not to take this deal," Yuka said.

"I might have taken your opinion into consideration if you hadn't sent my husband into the depths of hell. What do I do to take this bet? Do I have to sign something?"

"No," Mothy said. "Just by taking hold of my hand do you officially make a deal with me. All laws of the universe are void in the outcomes of deals with the devil. And I am certainly a devil, Mayu."

"Mayu, please," Yuka pleaded. "I know you do not want to hear me, but you have always been my friend."

"Unfortunately, it would seem you have never been mine," I replied, gripping Mothy's extended hand in my own.

I was there.

Then I was elsewhere.


	2. The Courthouse

It might be observed that I had taken to this whole "heaven or hell final death match" thing rather easily. To be honest, at this point, any explanation of the memories crammed into my head was a blessing amid the confusion. After all, I witnessed the impossible right in front of my eyes. I didn't want to be one of those people who never accepts reality until the end, complaining and trying to come up with some conspiracy to explain away the supernatural. We were dead. Anything could happen. Although, I certainly didn't expect this.

A deal with the devil, great thinking there, Mayu.

However, it did not seem that corrupt of a bargain, and what else was I supposed to do, _Yuka?_ I didn't even want to think about her right now. Everything was so muddled in my heart. My head ached. Being dead was a lot more painful than I imagined.

I opened my eyes for the second time in a strange, dark place. The room I sat up in felt different, though, from the abyss I was just in. There seemed to be intelligible shapes, now. Objects. Textures. But, everything was still a dark gray.

The floor felt cold to my legs but not my hands, as they were covered by long black gloves that reached my elbows. As I teetered to my feet, vaguely aware of voices echoing across the high-ceilinged space, I realized the floor was marble and so was the wall I leaned against. A brush of familiarity. I knew this place. To be back so soon, the reality of it crushed the last miniscule prospect of fantasy.

The courthouse. It was most certainly Ava's courthouse.

"I'll kill you right now, bastard!"

"Too late, darling. We're all dead already!"

"Like you're one to talk anyway!"

"Shut up! You have nothing to do with this!"

Winning Mothy's bet might have been a more difficult task than realized.

Eyes finally adjusting to this new level of dimness, I spotted a clump of colors other than gray around the entrance of a courtroom, a clump of people, people I knew. I approached feebly, trying to keep all the rules of the game straight in my head. Seriously, it felt like some twisted videogame. Artifacts, mysteries, come on. Would something like this truly be that entertaining?

"I can't believe you betrayed me like that!"

"W-Well you stabbed me in the back in the same way!"

"As revenge!"

"Don't pretend like you remembered anything up until now! None of us did!"

"Everyone, please. Shut up." My voice was small in comparison to theirs, but a great silence shrouded the torn group of eight.

"Mayu, you're here?" Luka asked, taking a step forward. All eyes were on me, it would seem. Len, Len, where was Len?

"Y-Yes, it would seem so," I replied.

"Well, what happened? You weren't transported down here with the rest of us."

They really had no idea what was going on, did they? They really didn't know that they were just about to spend eternity in some torture room or whatever, did they? I could see it in their faces, the light of ignorance, of possibility, of life. "I have no idea. Same as you. I was there, and then I wasn't." The lie was necessary. It was a rule, after all.

 _"_ _I also win if you tell anyone about our arrangement."_ Great. I didn't think this through. How on earth would I convince these people to go through this labyrinth if I couldn't tell them anything?

"I guess we just wait, then," Gakupo said. All the women instinctively took a step away from him as he spoke. I had almost forgotten that they were ready to tear each other's heads off just a minute ago.

Yet, I didn't feel animosity. I wonder why that was.

"M-Mayu." His voice shattered my entire thought process.

"Len," I said as he emerged from behind Kaito. If we were alive, I might have made a short joke, but since we were very much not, all I wanted to do was embrace him for just a moment before being catapulted back into this hellscape of Mothy's making—

"Attention, everyone!" Speak of the, well, devil. So much for the hug. I looked at Len sadly for a moment but then was forced to face my adversary. I had to stay focused. For everyone. Mothy manifested sitting on the statue of lady justice. She took in everyone's faces with satisfaction, sparing a subtle wink my direction.

"What are we doing here?" Meiko demanded. "You made it sound like we were about to be sent into hell, and now we're here?"

"Yes, why do I have to be around these people?" Rin continued.

"Sent into hell? Don't be ridiculous! There is no such thing," Mothy said with a flourish. "Only reincarnation. Why else would you have so many lives? There was a small hitch in the process, however. I am a demon, you see, and I have trapped you here until the powers that be deliver you. I'm a demon who enjoys games, so that is what we will be playing today.

"What kind of game?" Luka asked.

"It's simple, really. A labyrinth. Get out of the maze, and you're free to go. It makes this whole thing much more entertaining than just letting you reincarnate."

"Then, what was all that stuff about pride and gluttony?"

"You should have seen the looks on your faces. Hilarious! It was so funny. Lighten up, guys. It's all just fun and games. Although…" Her face darkened. "There is a catch to this game. If you die in this maze, you will not reincarnate."

Everyone stole glances at each other uneasily, except for me, who knew everything she was saying was a lie. I suppose this too was necessary deception, as there would be no other way to get them to go through the labyrinth without a goal in mind. A game within a game.

"Well, that's that. Any questions? Good. There is a lot of work to be done."

"Wait. Most of the things you just said didn't make any sense," Miku said.

"Not everything has to," Mothy replied and then vanished, leaving with them more confusion than before.

"Great. Stupid games in a time like this," Rin huffed. "All of you stay away from me, okay? I don't want to catch your crazy. The only person I can trust here is Len, and maybe Mayu, though I'm too sure about her either." She put a hand on Len's shoulder and glared at all the people who ruined her life over the past couple centuries. Ha. Centuries. This whole thing was almost comical.

I wasn't surprised that Rin was the first one to draw the line. She had kept her haughty disposition intact this whole time, after all. Convincing Mothy of her innocence might pose a problem. "As long as you keep _your_ distance, I'll keep mine," Meiko replied. She soon turned her skeptical eyes at Kaito and Gumi, who remained unmoving in the corner. "You two are awfully quiet. Well, what do you say about this game? If anyone should know the truth behind all this, it would be you."

"Mothy's actions are indecipherable to me," Kaito said, placing his head in his hands. The shock of her betrayal had not worn off yet. "Saying the Sins were all a joke. Impossible."

"She is hiding something from us," Gumi continued. "This game is probably more important than she makes it seem."

"M-Maybe we're not really dead," Luka suggested. "We were all saved from the fire, and this woman is holding us captive. She killed that girl and dumped her in the river, and now she wants to kill us—"

"You're saying you don't remember everything that happened before that?" Gumi asked. "Don't be ridiculous. We're dead. We killed each other. Over and over again."

"Can you all multitask?" I said loudly. "You all can argue while we're walking. We have to get out of this labyrinth, remember?"

"What's the point?" Luka asked, tears filling her eyes. She sank to the floor, black dress splayed about her like a star. "We're all dead anyway."

"Death seems to be only the beginning of our problems," Meiko muttered.

Instinctively, Gakupo extended a hand to help Luka up, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of his face, she shuddered and swiped it out of the way. He looked hurt and then ashamed. "Where even are we?" she said.

"Ava County courthouse," I answered. "Though, it feels different in more ways than one."

"Yes, besides everything being a dull gray, it seems… empty," Meiko observed. "Cold, and if I recall correctly, there should be a door over there, but it has disappeared."

"What's behind _these_ doors?" Miku asked, motioning toward the nearest wall.

"Supposedly, the courtrooms." I walked up to a set of double doors and grasped the handle. There seemed to be a collective gasp behind me, a sudden fear that something would pop out and kill us all. Somehow, I doubted we would encounter such dangers at this early of a stage in the game. Mothy was patient. She would have paced herself. At least, that's what I would have done. What was I saying? Before I lost my nerve, I pulled on the handle, only to hear a few mechanical rattles. "Locked," I said.

Meiko tried the other door. "This one, as well."

"Well, there's only one direction left to go," I said. We were in the main hall, where tall corridors branched off into the various departments of justice. Most directions seemed to have sturdy walls where entrances used to be, as if they were never there to begin with. However, the one exception was the hallway to our left. She was obviously leading us. Not much of a maze so far.

"So, are we seriously all moving on like one happy family? You seriously expect us to work together after everything we've been through?" Rin demanded.

"Do you seriously expect us _not_ to work together after everything we've been through?" I shot back. We held each other's gazes.

"Rin," Len said quietly. "We're going."

"Thank you," I mumbled. Really? Those were your first words to him after being thrown into this hellhole? An inaudible, forced "thank you?" I wished Rin would let go of his arm so I could at least talk to him privately… if only for a moment… "Does anyone else have any problems with staying as a group?" The looks on their faces said yes, indeed. "Listen, guys. I'm not asking you to hold hands with each other around a big bonfire of friendship. Keep your distance if you want to. The corridors are wide enough. For now."

"Let's all just get it over with, shall we?" Meiko said. She approached lethargically. "I trust you, Mayu. You've been a friend." She extended her hand. I was just about to shake it, too, before I remembered that the hand I was about to give to her was bitten off in a fit of madness. Meiko seemed to realize it, too, because she quickly retracted. "It is too soon. I understand."

Nodding slightly, I stole a glance at Len, whom she devoured, and what Mothy told me earlier finally made sense to me. _"You must prove to me and to yourself that these people deserve forgiveness."_

A thought. Could I really forgive what they did to Len? To me, well, I felt a strange numbness about the pain I experienced, but it wasn't just about me. They hurt my friends and Len even more deeply. Forgiving that… I was getting sidetracked. There was work to be done. "Alright. Let's go."

I turned away from them, rainbow hair and familiar dress rustling in the draft, and began walking. After a moment, footsteps followed. A long time ago, my father told me that my hair signified the union of all the nations. Nations were nothing compared to these people. They were worlds apart.


	3. The Dust

Traveling silently through the nightmare version of the courthouse you worked in during your seventh lifetime provided a fantastic atmosphere for thinking. As my eyes constantly surveyed the halls we winded through for the items on Mothy's little itinerary, my mind wandered often to the ways the people around me hurt each other. The question of how the seven deadly sins had anything to do with this bewildered me to no end. Let's see, if I were to guess…

"Why is it so _cold?_ " Rin complained, wrapping her arms around herself. She and Len both were wearing some kind of sailor-y outfits. They were kind of cute—no, that wasn't important right now. Rin had to be Pride. Mothy said so herself.

"Maybe if that woman gave us something decent to wear," Meiko said, pulling down her short red skirt irritably. Gluttony. Yeah, Gluttony.

"What? No pervy comment?" Rin turned to Gakupo.

"Well, I would, but it would seem I am hated enough already," he mumbled. Ha. Lust. Definitely.

"W-Why are you smiling?" Luka asked me. Hm. Envy?

"I'm not," I replied, quickly changing back to the sullen expression everyone was sharing.

"How big is this courthouse? Shouldn't we be out by now?" Miku questioned. Sloth, maybe.

"The back exit should be coming up soon," Kaito answered. Greed.

"Not much of a labyrinth so far," Gumi commented quietly. All that was left was Wrath.

A saggy, black tote bag swung from my shoulder back and forth methodically. It took me a while to even notice its existence, but I soon learned that it was a part of the game. The list Mothy gave me was nestled inside, and the items I collect would most likely be going beside it. Of course, if I could find them in the first place. All this about soil and wind overwhelmed me. Then again, everything here overwhelmed me.

I fell back, letting Meiko take the lead and syncing my step with Kaito, who, like Gumi, stuck to the back of the pack. "Hey," I said.

He squinted at me. "Hello."

"So, about this whole seven deadly sins thing—"

"Why are you talking to me so casually?" he asked calmly.

"Huh?"

"You do remember that I locked you in a ballroom and burned the entire place to the ground, right? And that was, like, a couple hours ago. What are doing talking to me like we're friends?"

"I wouldn't be turning down an offer of comradery right now. I just want to ask a few questions, anyway. I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out, so I'm going to talk to you like you were the Kaito from… Venomania! The one who helped me get back to my home and remained friends with Len and me for the rest of our lives. Remember that Kaito? I do."

"You are either more pure-of-heart than I made you out to be, or you are deceiving us all, Mayu Hidari." A small smile appeared on his face.

"We're here," Meiko called from the front.

"We'll talk later," I said, pushing my way back to the front and taking a look at the door everyone was fixated upon. It took me aback. The door, unlike everything else we had encountered so far in this place, was a stark white, almost illuminated. The handles were an ornamented gold, so polished I could see flickers of the dark world in its sheen.

"I think I can handle it this time," Meiko said quietly, taking hold of the handle and pushing forcefully. The door swung easily open, and one by one, we each ducked through the portal into whatever corner of Mothy's mind she chose.

"This place…" Len murmured.

"God, it's even more freezing in here," Miku said.

"This is where Miki died," Meiko announced.

It certainly was. Somehow, by way of a single threshold, we traveled from the deepest interior of the Ava County Courthouse to a warehouse three miles east. The large open space that greeted us struck me deeper than chill. The atmosphere here was different. Something was festooned from the ceiling.

"At least we have better clothes now," Rin said with great satisfaction, wrapping her white jacket around her waitress outfit. I looked down at myself, and—when on earth?—I was taller now, my favorite red, business formal dress around me, the one I wore the day I was killed, which was today, or yesterday. Time worked strangely here. I looked around. Gakupo in his police uniform, Luka in her prisoner garb, Len in the suit he wore to court. We were all older, too, save for Miku, who seemed trapped in her sixteen-year-old body and white, frilly dress.

"I'm not even going to ask." Miku shook her head. We took a moment to look around.

"Look! Windows!" Luka suddenly pointed frantically up at the giant sheets of glass glowing along the edge of the walls and the ceiling. They were almost blurry, not actually providing light to the rest of the room.

"Even if we had a way to get up there," Gumi said, calculating. "There wouldn't be anything to escape to. We're still dead."

"I just wanted to help," Luka muttered.

"So, are we just gonna _ignore_ the dead body hanging from the ceiling, or am I just seeing things?" Gakupo asked with an attempt of a smile.

We all turned uneasily toward the cluster of chain suspended in the center of the room. Slowly, we gathered around it in a circle, like we did around the throne that spat the fires that killed us. I could see her face from here. Miki, held up by hooks through her jacket, through her blouse, through her back, floating there with the chains. Everything about her, like everything that preceded her, was morphed into a dark gray. Though lacking the warm orange of her hair, and the pale white of her face, it was without a doubt Miki Star.

"What's up with this? What does Miki have to do with anything?" Rin questioned.

"Nothing," I answered instinctively. "She was just unlucky is all."

"That's one way to put it," Gakupo said, averting his eyes from the corpse best he could.

A drip.

A black dot on the floor.

Streaks of blood along Miki's cheek, where her mother cut her.

I felt my own cheek prickle. I could still the mangled tissue under my fingertips, from the scar left by Luka and her blade—

A gargle for air shuddered the room down to its core. Jumping despite myself, I looked fearfully up at the creature continuing to struggle above me. Sweet Lord, Miki was moving. "W-What's happening?" Miku shouted.

Miki scratched at her back with no semblance of human nature in her laborious movements. It was horrifying to watch. I rushed to right below where she hung like an ornament but could not reach her. "Someone, help me get her down!" I demanded. Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably. "What are you waiting for? Help me get her down!"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Luka said. "She's dead, right? Shouldn't we just move on? There's no harm in just moving on."

"Luka!" I exclaimed sharply. Her shoulders sank, and she avoided my gaze shamefully. "I just need one person to help me up," I pleaded. She was just writhing there by herself. How could they just watch a woman die like this? How was I supposed to prove to Mothy they weren't monsters when they were acting like this?

Fists clenched, Len took a step toward me. Rin grabbed his arm and said, "Hey, wait. I think we should just leave."

Len tore his arm away and then met me below Miki's twitching body. Wordlessly, he squatted down with his back facing me. I nodded to myself and climbed aboard. As Len struggled to his feet, I stretched my hand up and could take a firm grasp of Miki's ankles. "It's going to be okay, Miki. Hang on," I said, pushing her up with all my strength to free her from the hooks in her back. Miki didn't respond but seemed to be working with me to free herself. After seconds which felt like hours, Miki broke away and, now suspended by nothing, sent the three of us toppling down.

When I opened my eyes from bracing for impact, I saw Miki laying next to me with blank eyes. Wincing my way to her, I grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently, and then not so gently. She flopped around lifelessly. "Hey, wake up. Wake up now, Miki," I chanted. Nothing. And then after one more especially forceful shake, her face cracked, and she crumbled into dust in my arms.

I looked up, the tears that streamed down my face falling into the dust pooling around me. They were all staring, not with sympathy but with fear. Len kneeled there where he fell and hid his face from me. "I'm sorry we couldn't save her again," he said.

"It's—thank you," I said again. My talking-to-Len vocabulary had yet to expand beyond that.

"I think it is time we move on," Meiko suggested solemnly. "There looks to be a door on the other side of the warehouse."

One by one, they turned from me and stalked after Meiko, pity on their faces. Rin swiftly came up to Len and pulled him to his feet. Before he could say another word, she ushered him away. I, for a moment, remained with my hands in the small mountain of gray dust, feeling the weight of a life like a yoke around my neck. If this labyrinth was a test, we were failing right now.

I stood before they could leave and rushed to catch up. Brushing the tears off my face, I cursed myself for losing my composure. However, if I could just talk to Len, I felt like this burden could be lifted, ever so slightly, from my broken back. Yet Rin kept guard over him like a sentinel, pushing him to the center of the pack, where there was no casual way of going over and talking to him. She said she trusted me, but maybe that sentiment had changed.

The door at the back was crude metal, and it undoubtedly led to somewhere fantastical. Meiko once again took the lead in opening the portal, and we found ourselves in a foyer, just as saturnine and gray as the rooms preceding it. Our location became evident to me instantly, as we had just been in here earlier today. It was where we died: Kaito's mansion.

"This brings back warm and fuzzy memories," Meiko commented blithely.

"Warm, yes. Fuzzy, I think not," Gakupo said.

Kaito grew pale at the sight of his home. It did not escape my notice that he kept glancing at Miku like he was unsure what to do. It is strange seeing your daughter in a place like this—or, your wife. I felt queasy all of a sudden. Oh. That was a problem.

"What now?" Miku asked. I couldn't recall her so far saying anything other than a question or concern. "This place in itself is a maze. It would take forever to search the whole place."

"How about we split into groups?" Luka suggested.

"I don't know about that," I interjected, not wanting to be separated from anyone, unable to diffuse a volatile situation.

"I think it's a good idea," Meiko said, and it would seem that made it final. "We need some time away from each other."

"Three groups of three should suffice," Rin said. "Mine will consist of Len, myself, and… Gakupo, come on over."

"Mayu will be much more helpful, I think," Len said.

"Well, Gakupo certainly can't be in any other group," Rin argued. "At least he hasn't raped anyone in this one."

An awkward silence took hold of them. "It's fine," I said eventually. "I'll go with… Kaito and Gumi. I'm guessing that was how the teams were playing out."

"Perfect," Meiko said, making her way to Miku and Luka. "We're set to go. My and Rin's team can search the first floor, and Kaito's can take the second." If I had to guess, this was to move the group of at least two traitors as far away from everyone else as possible. "If anyone finds the exit, call out or come and find each other."

Len looked very displeased, eying Gakupo up and down with contempt I had rarely seen from him in life. He probably despised Gakupo for my sake, which filled me with concern but also a small hope that despite the confusion of the situation, Len still felt how he used to… "Let's be on our way," I said under my breath and took off toward the staircase. Kaito and Gumi followed, and the rest dispersed.

"I'm surprised you wanted to be on Team Betrayal," Gumi said as we trudged up the dark, velvet steps.

"I wanted to talk with you two anyway," I replied, "since you are the ones who knew Mothy before any of us."

"We didn't exactly _know_ her, I realize now," Kaito said. I halted at the top of the staircase, unsure of where to go next. "To your right is my office. Maybe there first."

I took his suggestion and began to lead the way. "I suppose my main question is: What the hell were you thinking?"

"It's difficult to explain," Kaito went on. "Everything I did as Judge Kaito Taro feels like a dream. A nightmare. I just felt so overcome with this feeling inside—this horrible poison."

"Yes, that's what it feels like," Gumi interrupted. "But, unlike you, I made the choice of joining Mothy of my own free will. I decided to help her in the fourth world."

"I see. Through the trees, right? The trees that talked to you?" I asked.

"Aren't you going to get upset?" Gumi retorted. "Why do you even care about all this?"

"You answer my questions rather readily," I replied, stopping and turning to look her in the eyes. "Could it be that you are harboring guilt about all this?"

"Guilt? You must be crazy," Gumi said. "The only thing I regret is not killing Mothy while I had the chance."

"The office is right here," Kaito interjected, motioning toward the wooden double doors to our right. This whole hallway was adorned with wood furnishings and framed paintings all the wall.

"Alright, let's do it, then," I said, pushing my way inside. His office looked almost exactly as the one at the courthouse did, all books and elegance. Photos of his daughter lined the wall, and my stomach pinched with nausea again. I could tell it hit Kaito also, as he kept his eyes away from the pictures.

"Well, it doesn't seem like anything's here," Gumi observed.

"Yes, I suppose we better move on," Kaito agreed.

"Wait." Something caught my eye. Heart pounding, I walked over to a bookshelf and brought a peculiar knickknack closer to my face for inspection. It appeared to be an hourglass with the texture of brass along its bases, ornate in design. The startling thing about it was its color, however. Against the dull gray of this possessed place, the sand inside rested as a deep, royal blue. "What is this?" I asked aloud and then turned it over to watch the sand fall.

No one answered.

I turned around. Only black greeted me. No office, no Kaito, no Gumi. It was like I was back in the room I started in. A familiar voice filled the space.

"Stop crying. For the love of God, stop crying."

I kept turning around and around, but I could not see anything.

"I know." The voice cracked. "I lost it, too, you know, but you have to get over it now. All you do is cry and cry and _cry!_ You do not even take care of yourself. Do you want me to send you to an asylum?"

"Kaito?" I asked aloud. That was who the voice belonged to, right?

"What have you done?" He was in shock, now. "What… have you done?"

Wind rushed past me. A sharp intake of breath. I blinked.

The hourglass sat in my hands again, the bookshelf in my peripheral. Gumi was calling to me. "Mayu, come on. Meiko shouted she found the exit."

"What? Oh," I said numbly, slipping the hourglass into my tote bag. "Sorry. Let's go."

"Did you find something?" Kaito asked as we traveled back through the corridors. "I don't know why, but I had a feeling we would find something there."

"Nothing," I answered. "Feelings aren't always right, I suppose."

"Yes, you're right," he said, a bit disappointed.

I attempted to get my hands to stop shaking.


	4. The Feeling

I had to hand it to Mothy. It was almost like looking into a mirror.

It was accompanied by a strange sensation, seeing statues of ourselves dying on the ballroom floor. Of course, they weren't really statues, were they? They felt like humans when you touched them, and collapsed into dust when you touched them too much. So, like the rest of my merry band of travelers, I observed the statue of my agonized self, suffocating as she crawled through the nonexistent smoke, with little idea of how I was supposed to feel.

The door we were searching for stood forgotten at the back of the Taro ballroom, bright green against the drab, gray walls. As soon as the other two search parties arrived where Meiko was beckoning them, we all were rapt by the scene awaiting us. Much like Miki in the warehouse, it seemed to be a reenactment of the night we all died here, complete with a Kaito, burns crisping his body, standing in the center of it all. There were no flames. Only burns.

The only person completely out of the loop was Miku, long dead by the time this incident occurred. "What is this?" she asked every minute or so, but no one dared answer thus far.

"What do you think the point of all this is?" Meiko said aloud, squatting down next to her crumpled self with distaste. "To bring back bad memories?"

"Maybe it's exactly that," I said. "Remind us of what we did, so we can turn on each other."

"Well, if that's her plan, it's working," Rin mumbled, staring daggers at Kaito, who opted to sit down next to the door until we were done reminiscing. "You're lucky I don't have a weapon, dude."

"I find it funny that you're shifting all the blame to me, while you were a corrupt politician yourself for a time," Kaito retorted, for the first time biting back.

"That was a long time ago, Your Dishonor," Rin snapped.

"Time has nothing to do with it."

"I swear—"

"Would this be a bad time to mention that I found an ax in the garage?"

All words and thoughts sputtered to a halt. Everyone simultaneously turned toward Gakupo, awkward smile on his face, as he held up a shimmering black ax up in the air. Fear crisped the air for a moment, until Gakupo realized the impression he was giving and dropped the weapon to the ground. "I guess it was a bad time," he said.

Feeling the need to diffuse the situation, I said, "Let's just forget all about this room and move on. We can just leave the ax where it is."

"What if we need to protect ourselves?" Luka interjected. "I think someone should hold onto it, just in case."

"Protect ourselves from what?" I shot back. "It will only make us distrust each other more."

"I don't know if it's possible to distrust each other any more than we already do," Meiko said. "How about we vote who carries it? You can't vote for yourself."

"I vote Len, then," Rin exclaimed. Len looked at his sister, bewildered.

"I think Mayu would be more viable," Kaito said. "No offense, Little Len, but your sister seems to have a bit of a hold on you."

"I vote Mayu as well," Gumi said.

"Yeah, Mayu's fine." Miku.

"Mayu." Luka.

"Same here." Gakupo.

Len nodded.

"Well, there you go. Mayu, it's all yours." Meiko. "If you just throw it away, though, it's up for grabs."

"Alright. Fine," I conceded, confused by their trust in me, but glad none of them would be able to hack each other to death. I knelt down and picked up the weapon, heavier than I anticipated. Gently, I lowered it into my tote bag, careful to prevent it clinking against the hourglass. The blade still stuck out the top, but at least my hands were free.

"Well, I think it's time to move on, then," Meiko continued, making her way over to the green door. We followed, apprehension still hanging over our heads. Rin refused to look at me but kept her gaze forward, lips pursed. I wish I knew what I did to piss her off so much. "Let's see what's behind Door #3," Meiko muttered under her breath and then pushed her way inside.

As soon as I was across the threshold, I felt my body shift. Before I even looked down, I knew what had happened. My red dress had morphed into a skirt suit, my hair twisted itself into a bun, and I found myself three years younger. Someone tripped over me, and it wasn't until then that I realized we were all crammed into a much smaller space than what we were used to. Meiko stepped forward, eyes widened in wonderment, at her psychiatry office. It looked just as it did the summer I met Len. Even the tea set was laid out as if a guest was coming to visit.

"This is my office," she said, more to herself than to anyone else.

"So, we're back in this… realm? World? Lifetime?" Miku asked.

"Nothing can surprise me anymore, except for how tired I am all of a sudden," Luka said, fanning her changed face.

"I feel the same," Gakupo added immediately, stealing a glance at Luka. "Maybe we should sleep for a while."

"Why do we need to sleep if we're already dead?" Rin said.

"It doesn't matter," I intervened. "Can anyone deny that they're exhausted?"

"I must admit, it is rather strange," Miku said. "I felt fine just a moment ago. Now, it feels like someone's trying to staple my eyes closed." When was the last time we slept? Only a couple hours ago, at most.

"Okay, we rest," Meiko announced, "but two people should be awake at a time, to keep watch." There was an unspoken portion of that statement which said to keep watch from each other.

"That's fine with me," Kaito said, a bit relieved, I'm sure, that he was finally out of the world where he killed us all.

"First watch, anyone not tired?" Meiko asked.

"I'll take it," I volunteered, though tired I was certainly.

Len clamored to say something, but Gumi interrupted, "I'll go, too."

"It's decided, then. An hour per shift. Everyone, find a corner, preferably far away from someone you hate." Meiko, as a gesture of good faith, plopped down near the door we will undoubtedly exit through, a white one out of place in the dark office. The space was not small, per se, but you could still see almost everyone you didn't want to see, no matter where you set up camp.

Meanwhile, Gumi and I sat on the desk, side by side, watching the carpet with nothing better to do. "Meiko seems to have taken charge," Gumi said after a while. She had a way of expressing no emotion and yet all of them at once.

"I don't know if this is the best place to gossip," I replied.

"They're all asleep. Look—" She raised her voice. "Anyone awake?"

Not a stir. "You win, and yes, Meiko has taken up the role of leader rather readily. I'm happy someone did."

"I'm surprised you didn't," Gumi said. "You're the only one here no one wants to strangle in their sleep."

"I can't lead anybody. I just want to make it through this without anyone dying."

"We're already dead."

"You know what I mean."

"No, actually, I don't. You seem very calm for someone trapped with eight of her torturers."

"I'm not calm at all. I just don't hate any of you."

"That's the strange part."

"I don't find it that strange," I admitted. "I mean, if I hated you for shooting me, then I would have to hate everyone. If I hated everyone, I would be so exhausted I wouldn't be able to do anything. Also, if I hated you, I would have to hate Len as well. Like that's going to happen."

"Len, yes. Why exactly are you avoiding each other?" she asked. "You two have the only non-fucked-up relationship here. Everyone here knows it. If you two can't work it out in a place like this, none of us can, you know?"

"I'm not avoiding him. I just got pushed away from him for a while, and now it's just awkward. Why are you laughing?"

Gumi covered her mouth, but giggles kept tumbling out. "I'm sorry. It's just—not too far from here, I remember giving you relationship advice. Then I shot you, but you're still talking to me like we're friends." She laughed like that was the most hilarious thing she'd ever heard.

"Don't you mean killed me?"

"I didn't kill you."

"How do you know?"

"I guess it's natural that all the dots haven't connected yet." Gumi held up a little hand gun. "'Bang! I may not always kill, but I never miss.' Remember that? I thought it was pretty clever myself."

Planets colliding. I had to blink away the confusion of two worlds connecting. "So, you're saying you missed my heart on purpose?"

"I'm not a good person or anything," Gumi defended. "I just didn't see any point in killing you." She laid her back against the desk and stared blankly at the ceiling.

"Thank you, then."

"Thank you? Are you serious? I still shot you, and I killed Kaito."

"You and Kaito seem to be on pretty good terms."

"That's because we made an agreement in the seventh world that we would let bygones be bygones, since he was about to kill me and everything."

"You know, it _is_ kind of funny when you put it that way," I said. She made no response. "And, I suppose I'm talking to you so casually because _you're_ talking to _me_ so casually. We all long for normalcy, do we not? Anyway, I don't blame you for what happened. There's only one person I blame, and she's probably laughing her ass off right about now. There's a lot I want to tell everyone, but… Well, that doesn't matter right now."

Oh. Gumi had fallen asleep.

"Well, now I feel like an idiot." Sighing, I hopped off the desk and gave the room a once-over. Nope. No danger, not that we have anything to fear but ourselves.

 _"_ _Only the mind, Mayu. Only the mind."_

Right. Whatever that meant.

I found myself gravitating toward a little pair, one nestled comfortably on a chair and the other up against the coffee table next to her. Taking a seat on the floor, I observed Len asleep like a total stalker. I mean, I was his wife, so I didn't think it was illegal or anything. Or was I his wife?

Well, sometimes I was his wife. Like, four out of seven times. If it was more than half the time, could I say we were married? I hoped so. I hugged my knees to my chest. I hoped so.

I groaned into my hands. This was all much too complicated.

"I am also in physical pain whenever I see Len's face."

I parted my fingers so I could peer through. "Rin, you're awake."

"It's about time to change shifts, isn't it?" she asked.

"No, it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes," I said.

"That's impossible. I feel like I've been asleep for hours."

"Time works funny here, I suppose."

"Right. Well, I guess I'll take the next shift."

"You're going to wake up Len?"

"I doubt Ms. Bear would take kindly to the two of us on a shift, since everyone here believes I am manipulating him to my will," she said. "I guess I'll wake up Kaito."

"You hate Kaito," I said.

"I hate everybody."

"Well, I guess I'll move over there to get some sleep." I began to get up.

"Wait," she halted me. "If you could stay there, that would be great, in case Len wakes up. I… don't want him to be alone."

"I'm receiving some very mixed messages from you," I said, "but I'll stay."

"Good." Her scarf caught my eye. Yes, I remembered that scarf.

She went off to assumedly wake up Kaito, and I in the meantime curled up on the carpet across from Len, closed my eyes, and in an instant, fell into the crooked arms of a dream.

Or was it a dream at all?

Blackness ahead of me, to my right, my left, behind. Just like the time I picked up the hourglass, I felt myself lodged in between consciousness and unconsciousness. A voice from somewhere. I turned around.

"Mayu, you've been progressing rather smoothly," Mothy said, placid smile across her pale face.

"Are they really all sleeping?" I asked calmly.

"In a way, yes. The dream realm is one I can traverse relatively easily."

"Good for you," I said.

"Well, I must say I am surprised no one has offed anyone yet."

"I'm not."

"Of course you're not. You did seem shaken up a bit at my little Miki doll, however." She crossed her arms. "You look like you want to say something."

Like they were being forced out of me, my words came tumbling out. "How could you do that to your own daughter?"

"Ah, there's some hatred in your eyes. Why don't you look at them like that?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I thought it was rhetorical."

"It wasn't."

"She wasn't really my daughter, Mayu. I brought her up for the express purpose of being killed. I couldn't possibly love a sacrifice. You look upset. Is it your pent-up motherly instincts? You never were a mother, but I'm sure you would have made a great one. Go ahead. Ask the question on your mind."

"You… Were you the reason I never could… Why none of us…?"

"Could bear children, with the exception of parenting each other? Yes, but it was for your own benefit. Imagine the emptiness that would consume you if you had to live more lives while your children moved onto the afterlife? It would have been much too painful, even if you didn't remember them."

What was this feeling inside me? Was this… anger? Wrath? I never felt something so hot before, so grievous. Not even when I faced Gakupo in his manor or Kaito on his bench. To know that all this pain, as well as the other plagues of my life, were all caused by one person, one irredeemable, inhuman _devil?_ "I have no more questions," I spat. "If you have anything else to say, go right ahead. I have people I have to get back to."

"Well," she went on, "there is one other person who wanted a word."

In a moment, Mothy was gone and replaced by a much smaller apparition. Yuka, crestfallen, frowned at the ground, unable to meet my fiery gaze. "Hello, Mayu," she said.

"Hello," I replied curtly.

"I-I have a question for you." She stuttered like a child. I had never seen her this way before, but it did little to soften my stone heart.

"Everyone seems to have questions these days. I have one of my own, you know," I said.

"Ask anything," Yuka responded earnestly. "Please."

"It's simple, really. Nothing sentimental. I was just wondering if you were the one who kept leaving the cards is all. The numbers."

She nodded softly.

"Okay. That's it. Can I go now?"

"Wait! My question."

"Oh, right. You answered mine, and now I answer yours. It's only fair. Go ahead." From such a burning hot heart can come such cold words. My head ached. I had never felt this way before.

"Why… have you forgiven everyone… except me?" Yuka asked slowly.

I couldn't even laugh at that. The answer was obvious, I thought. "Maybe because you knew what was happening this whole time and didn't save anyone, huh? Could it be that? Or maybe it's every lie you've ever told me, or the cryptic notes that left me banging my head against the wall trying to remember something unattainable. Maybe it's because you watched me fall in love and then stepped back as that boy was murdered and I was abused. Maybe—now, I don't know for sure but maybe—it's because you're standing in front of me right now, watching me try to save the souls of the people we grew up with, and you're still doing absolutely nothing! Maybe it's because _you were my best friend, and that's why it hurts so much."_

Yuka nodded, and that pissed me off even more.

"Yuka—!"

I woke up gasping for air, muscles still tingling from the fire inside.

I had never felt this way before.


	5. The Slap

I resolved several things within myself, once I gathered that I was awake and that I was still in hell.

1\. I was still upset with Yuka.

2\. If the opportunity presented itself, I was going to kill Mothy with my bare hands. Even if that wasn't physically possible in this realm of hers, I would do it.

3\. Before this ominous slumber hit us again, I was going to talk to Len, beyond the words of "Thank you." Also, I was going to slap him. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like it had to be done. Also, a hug. Maybe.

Also, a pillow was underneath my head when I opened my eyes, and I had no recollection of how it got there. Death was the strangest thing I had ever experienced, and that is saying something.

It wasn't until I stood up that I realized we were all standing at once, like we all woke up at the same time in perfect unison. It wouldn't surprise me that these waves of exhaustion and alertness were caused by a certain witch. As some stretched and others yawned, silence fell upon our heads. It would seem that in the sweet reprieve of sleep, we had forgotten where we were.

"What now?" Miku asked aloud.

"The only thing left to do is move on," I replied.

"Why are you smirking?" Rin questioned Gakupo, who leaned against the bookshelf nearest her.

"It's nothing," he said. "It's just that we're all speaking a different language than before."

Nobody knew what to say to that strange piece of truth. It may have even unsettled our hearts more. We collectively waited for Meiko to open the door out of here already, but she made no move toward it. Instead, her eyes roamed the familiar room, glazed over in a loose memory. Feeling the tension rise like the tide, I stepped up and led the charge myself, Gumi's words from last night, if one could call it a night, reverberating in my head. " _You're the only one here no one wants to strangle in their sleep."_ I'll give her that, but no matter how many doors I open, I was no leader.

The sky. We were outside. Yet, no fresh air filled out lungs, and the feeling of being ensnared only grew more tangible. My heels hit cobblestone. I knew where we were.

"Ah," Miku exclaimed softly, covering mouth with her pale, petite hand. "A shrine. We went here once, didn't we?"

I placed my hand on a pillar of the tori gate. "Yeah, in the summer."

"Well, I'm sure you all had a jolly time," Rin said.

"We did, actually." Kaito was the one who said it, and the words were so light, it took me by surprise. Right. We did have a nice time here, didn't we? Maybe this would be an ideal time to strike up a conversation with Len—

"It doesn't matter if it was nice," Luka said, frown etched deep into her face. "It's all lost now. We're dead."

"Let's just go," Miku suggested.

Our migration commenced through the gate and onto the stall-lined street devoid of life and cheer. It was set up for a festival, just like the time most of us came here to celebrate. I kept a safe distance from Len but stared at him ceaselessly in an attempt to catch his eye. He did not look at me. We marched on.

"Where do you think the door will be?" Luka asked Meiko.

"Hm? Oh, I have no idea," she replied.

"Oh."

Gumi fell out of step with the rest of them and maneuvered next to me. "I feel like I have to confess something to you," she said.

I nodded for her to go on.

"Being here reminds me of Kiyoteru. You remember Kiyoteru."

"Yes, I remember Kiyoteru," I seethed, an influx of frustration evident in my voice. It came out of nowhere, this feeling.

"I have to admit that I-I am the one who took his life."

"I know that," I said, and then, against my better judgement, added, "Why did you kill him?"

Gumi bent her head up to the charcoal sky. "I wanted to see you and Len get together."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It was how it was meant to be."

"You didn't have to kill him," I spat. She seemed taken aback by my change in demeanor. "He wasn't a part of this. You shouldn't have involved him."

"But he was already involved the moment he met you," Gumi replied, deadpan.

I clenched my fists, ignoring the nervous glances the rest of the group was sending us. "I need help here, Gumi. I need—I need you to justify this for me. I need someone to explain to me what was going on in their heads so I can…" I could feel the rules of he game shove my mouth closed.

"I can't justify any of it for you," she said calmly. "All I can say is that I'm sorry."

Something green at the corner of my eye.

"I forgive you for shooting me, Gumi, but that is the only apology I can accept. Please, if you could go on ahead. I would like to be alone for a while."

She obeyed in the expressionless way she did everything, and I waited a hard moment before I stopped, turned around, and rushed to the stall where I glimpsed the ominous color. It sat in an empty wooden box on the counter—a snow globe. Inside was a little log cabin surrounded by a little forest. I picked it up gingerly and shook it once, watching the white flurries go down, down, and then I was in blackness again. I was ready this time.

 _"_ _You told me I was your apprentice! We were supposed to be working together. I did it for the science, but you—you're just sadistic!"_

"Gumi!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. No one answered.

 _"_ _I'm not going to stop you. I promise. Go, before it's too late."_

Nothing made any sense at all, did it? Absolutely nothing. Maybe this game we were playing was unwinnable after all.

 _"_ _I let her leave because the very thought of you makes my blood boil! I would kill you right now if I could!"_

The sound of trees rustling, then a mechanical squeal. I looked straight up, and for a moment I could see the moon. Then the sky turned artificial, and I was back in front of the stall. Automatically, I placed the globe in my bag, just as someone placed their hand on my shoulder. "This is the second time you've spaced out like this," Gumi observed candidly.

"'I did it for the science, but you… You're just sadistic," I repeated to myself.

"Huh?" Gumi looked away for a moment, face chiseled in thought. "What was that?"

"Do you remember anything from a life before Rin ruled as queen?"

"What? No. Of course not. Let's go." Yet we remained in pensive silence the rest of the way.

The stalls soon shrunk away, and we approached the shrine itself with varying levels of anticipation. The building loomed above us ominously. The next door had to be in here, surely. The objects around us were considered holy, but the gods had never set foot in this place, certainly.

Lo and behold, a bright white door at the front of the shrine.

Everyone stood at the door wantonly, so I floated to the front and slid it open myself. Yes, I was the official door-opener. However, this time I let people go ahead of me, so I could fall into step with Len, hopefully, but they all ducked in so quickly, I was left at the back again. Official door-openers didn't get much attention, I guess.

We were still outside, but in a much more enclosed space. I had only been here once before, but its image stained my memory like the blood that stained my skin. This was where Gumi shot me. Everyone was gathered around something in the middle of the tiny space, and it didn't take long to realize they were the statues of Kaito and Gumi, reenacting the murder-suicide we all so loved to be reminded of. Gumi's arm levitated sat a perfect 90-degree angle, and the gun in her hand was pointed straight at his head. Good times.

I looked around the corner, and—wow—it was me again, eyes wide, registering the scene laid before me. Greater times. This was more like memory lane than a labyrinth.

"You killed Kaito, too? It seems like everyone's killing Kaito these days," Rin commented, examining the statues in close detail.

"Are we not going to talk about these doors or what?" Luka asked, pointed to the side of the rec area opposite my beautiful figure, where two doors stood in painfully bright colors. One was dark blue. The other was cyan. "Which one are we taking?"

"Obviously, we should split into two groups," Rin said.

"This time, I don't know about that," Gakupo intervened. "I have a feeling that we won't be seeing each other for a while."

"It'll be refreshing," she replied.

"Maybe it's for the best," Luka agreed.

Amid every rapidly taking sides, a sudden noise pierced the air like a scream. A gunshot. I knew the sound of a gunshot well. Immediately, I placed a hand on the handle of my ax, but it was soon obvious that who actually pulled the trigger was the statue of Gumi. In the span of a nanosecond, Kaito had fallen to the floor. Meanwhile, the real Kaito, off to the side in avoidance of the ensuing argument, clutched his head and half-sank to the ground.

"Are you alright?" I asked, rushing over but weary of touching him. Miku approached quickly as well, an action she seemed to regret.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. It's wearing off now," he said, clamoring to his feet. "That was strange." Blood trailed down his head.

Another gunshot. It took me a moment to realize I was in pain. Before I doubled over, I vaguely registered that my little statue had fallen as well. Exclamations of concern burst from all directions, but I held up a hand to assure them I was fine, though the wind was knocked right out of me. Just as Kaito said, the pain soon subsided, and I stood up straight with a deep breath. Len had come close, apparently, hand almost on my shoulder, but he pulled away. He looked horrified.

"I-I'm okay, now," I said aloud.

"It seems the labyrinth is becoming more complicated," Meiko said. It felt like a long time since she had silently abdicated her role as leader.

"We should get out of here before—" Gumi began, but out came the final bullet, and it burrowed into her head just as it did all those years ago. I was the only one to help Gumi up.

"Right. We need to split into two groups," Rin said, as if nothing had happened at all. "How should we decide this?" I hated this idea just as much as I did the first time. Actually, even more than the first time. These doors led undoubtedly to other fragments of our memories, and who knew if they ever reconnected?

Meiko cleared her throat. "How about we decide randomly?" She slipped her hand into her pocket and pulled out a darkened coin. "Heads you go through the blue one, tails the cyan one."

"Random?" Rin asked in distaste.

"It's the only fair way."

And so even in the afterlife we flipped a coin.

The groups were decided as follows: Rin, Len, Meiko, and Gumi to the blue side, Kaito, Gakupo, Miku, Luka, and myself to the cyan. Of course the universe didn't put me on Len's team. Why would it be gracious to me now?

Corpses strewn behind us, we faced our respective doors. Tension was palpable. I made the ghost of my wound throb. My heart was out of control. Something was about to be lost.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. "You guys can go, but can I have a moment alone with Len? Please." There. I said it. I felt like a high school girl.

They all looked down at their feet like they were guilty of something. "I think that would be fine," Gumi said.

"Yes, that would be fine," Meiko agreed. "Let's get a move on, then. Good luck, everyone. It may be ironic to say it, but good luck."

Determination in every movement, the seven of them opened their doors and strode in with their heads held high, and no matter what they said, they all felt a little more alone than they did before.

The doors shut. There was nowhere left to turn except… "Len," I said, looking at him unflinchingly for possibly the first time. He stood there in his sweater, wringing his hands nervously, his wedding ring on his finger. "Can we stop pretending that we don't know each other now?"

At last, Len looked at me. Tears were already welling in his eyes. "Yes. Please."

Damn it, I felt my own tears prickling my eyes. Keep it together. I took a step closer. "Can I?"

Though he seemed to have no idea what I was asking, he nodded, and so I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him like I was never going to let go. He sighed. Relief? Trembling, he reciprocated my hug with equal force, and I could hear him crying. "What's wrong? What's wrong?" I kept asking, but I was crying as well.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough to save you."

"What are you talking about?" I could hardly wrap my head around the words he was saying, maybe because I was reveling so intensely in the warmth of his body so close to mine, his entire being. One touch brought down seven lifetimes of memories onto me.

"I'm sorry," he said again in between sobs.

"Are you talking about this place? Len, I was shot because I was meddling. You didn't anything wrong."

"Not just this. Everything. I failed you so many times. In the first world, I got you killed. In the second, I gave up on finding you. In the third, I abandoned you. In the fourth, I couldn't protect you from the ridicule of the town. In the fifth, I never really could provide for you once we were out of that city. In the sixth, I almost _k-killed_ you. I almost killed you. In the seventh, I let you die."

A different kind of frustration overtook me, and I pulled back and slapped him sharply in the face once. I knew I would have to at some point. "Shut up," I said, trying to get myself to stop spilling tears all over the place. "You're ridiculously ignorant. If you were at all happy with me, you would never speak of such things ever again. If you were happy with me, then shut up. I'm not perfect. I screwed up just as much as you did. Shut up. I'll kill you if you say one more word condemning our time together as torture."

At last, the crying halted. Both of us just held each other's gazes for a moment and then eased back into each other's arms. "You're right," he whispered.

"I can go with you guys. I-I have to go along with you."

"No, you can't. You promised your group that you were going to catch up with them. If you don't, then they won't trust you anymore, and if they don't trust you, they'll have no one to trust. Then we're all going to go mad."

Why the hell was he saying something intelligent now of all times? "Then, we have to go separate ways for a while, huh? Again."

"We'll meet back up eventually, like we always do."

Before my emotions spilled over again, I snaked my hands up to his hair and pulled him into a deep kiss. The hard part was pulling away. "See you soon," I said.

Len, a bit dazed, replied, "I love you."

Steeling myself, I tugged my hands out of his grasp and walked to the cyan door. He approached his own, and together, keeping our eyes on each other until the very last second, pushed through to the next level of hell.


	6. The Split

Younger yet again. I couldn't remember what it felt like to be this young until I stepped through the door. Also, dirty. It had been a while since I was this filthy.

Toragay stood before me like a tomb. Despite this hellscape morphing every place I had ever been into a weird, dark nightmare, Mothy got this one pretty spot-on. It was almost how I left it, abandoned and desolate. The only difference was the lack of wind, wailing like it lost its children. I never wanted to come back here.

"You look like you've been crying," Miku observed. She, along with Kaito, Gakupo, and Luka, were lying in wait by the door for me. I noticed just then that the cyan door behind me was in the middle of the street, standing on its own with no building behind it. Out of curiosity, I fiddled with the handle. Locked.

"I…" I trailed off, not able to deny it.

"I didn't want to be reminded of this lifetime," Luka said, reverting my mind back to the melancholy cityscape. "I didn't really get to _do_ anything."

"You died from the plague?" Gakupo asked suddenly.

Luka waited a moment to answer, as if debating if he was worth a simple word. "Yes."

"Me too," he said quietly.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Kaito asked, turning to Miku.

"We all have our sins," she replied.

"How did _Miku_ start a plague?" Luka questioned.

"She poisoned the water supply," I answered as I began shedding a few layers of my tattered clothing. It was unbearably hot all of a sudden, and these rags made me feel disgusting.

"How do you know that?" Luka asked sharply.

"Because Yuka, Len, and I were the only ones to get out of this city alive," I said.

"You got out," Gakupo repeated to himself.

I nodded. "Miku killed everyone in the city, and then herself."

Miku remained silent.

"Wait, that's it," Luka exclaimed. "I knew I was forgetting something this whole time. Yuka! Where the hell is Yukari?"

"You're right. She was there the whole time," Kaito said.

"Even though she didn't do anything really messed up, if Mayu is here, she should be," Gakupo continued.

"So," Miku finished, "where is she? Mayu, you knew her best. I'm surprised that you hadn't noticed her gone before."

"It's not that I didn't notice," I replied defensively, scrambling to figure out if talking about Yuka broke one of Mothy's rules. Just to be safe, I decided to keep my mouth shut. "I didn't want to bring up more questions we couldn't possibly answer."

If anyone else had said it, I had no doubt that they would have pounced on the implausibility of my statement immediately. However, they seemed to mull it over in their minds, trying to bring themselves to a satisfactory conclusion. "I suppose we would have no way of finding out where she is," Gakupo offered. "Let's just move on."

"Moving on is easy to say, but—" Luka motioned around, "—where do we go?"

"We can't search the entire city. That would take months," Miku said.

"We've got time," Luka rebutted. "We're dead, after all."

"But we don't have time," Kaito interjected. "Mothy said that people were coming to get us. She has time restraints."

It felt like these people could go back and forth for hours. "Obviously, the door to the next area will be in a place of significance for us," I said. "We just have to go to those places, and it'll turn up."

"What if the significant place is only known to one of the four who went off the other way?" Luka asked.

"This isn't an unwinnable game."

"But Mothy couldn't have known how we were going to split up."

"Mothy controls this realm. She could control luck if she wanted to." I sighed. "We are wasting time. The place, if it follows the pattern up until now, will be where one of us has died."

"Fun," Gakupo mumbled.

"It seems splitting up has become the norm," Luka said. "Might as well keep the ball rolling. It would be faster if we split up into two groups." What she didn't say was that being around Gakupo made her want to vomit, but it was in her face.

"Alright," Miku agreed. What she didn't say was that being around Kaito made her want to vomit, but it was in her face. I felt like I stepped into a horrible romantic comedy. There was no way I could change their minds on the matter.

"Fine. Let's make it simple. Boys and girls," I suggested. Kaito and Gakupo eyed each other uneasily. It was a miracle that after all these lifetimes, they barely knew one another.

"We're on the north side," Miku observed. "The hospital should be near. That is where Meiko died."

"We'll head to the duke's estate, then," Kaito said, not able to keep Miku's gaze from averting away. "I'm sure that is where Rin passed."

"I, also," Luka said. "Since it's in the middle of the city, we should meet back there anyway, whenever we find the door or run out of ideas."

"Right. Well, good luck to you three," Gakupo said grimly. "May we all make it back alive."

"To you as well," I replied, and before we began standing there awkwardly, we parted ways.

There was no asking of "why?" as the three of us ventured down a lost street, staying close to the buildings, uncomfortable in the openness of the middle of the road. Luka did not ask why Miku murdered everyone in the city, how she knew that Meiko died in the hospital, or how we were all functioning as humans in the midst of it all. Miku did not ask Luka why she killed her in the next world over with a pair of scissors, why she slept with her husband in this city, or if she could ask for forgiveness. I think they knew the answers to those questions. I did, too, which was why I followed their lead and shy away from anything that could shatter the peace.

"The hospital should be just around the corner," Miku informed us after a while.

"I doubt that a door will be there," Luka said.

"Why do you say that?" Miku asked.

"Just a feeling."

"I suppose all we have are feelings to go off of. Mothy doesn't make any sense at all. That _is_ her name, correct? Mothy."

It never occurred to me before that Miku had never met her before, or even saw her on the news when Miki Star was murdered. Miku missed out on a lot of things, I felt. Following Kaito, she was a favorite victim. "Yes, Mothy," I confirmed. "Or at least that's what she tells us."

"I never thought I would have to sleep when I was dead," Luka commented. "She made this place just to mess with us."

"I have a feeling that she put us to sleep so that she could continue building this world we're in," I said. "She couldn't generate it fast enough."

"Interesting theory, Mayu," Miku replied. "Have any that explains where Yukari is?"

"Not yet."

Abandoned hospitals were high up on the list of creepy places to spend our extended weekend in hell. My heart fluttered as we stepped through the oak doors, caused by the primal fear of not belonging here, of being unwanted. However, no doctors were there to observe my tattered clothing with distaste and shoo me away like rabble. It was almost comical to me now that I ever feared people of higher class. I went to med school myself, once.

"Her room is on the first floor," Miku said, "just down the hallway."

"How do you remember something like that?" I said, as it was hard enough to sort out the most critical moments in my lives in this mixed-up head of mine.

"It's just something you remember."

I said no more, opting to follow her down to Room 7 in complacency. Room 7. Hah. It was a lot less funny when we slipped inside and Meiko's contorted corpse was harshly illuminated, though the room was unbearably dim. "Is this what I looked like?" Luka murmured to herself, pulling a blanket over her body to cover up her discolored legs.

"Everyone did," I answered. "This wasn't a fun life to live."

"No door," Miku said shortly, and then left without another word.

Luka shrugged her shoulders, as if oblivious to any reason why Miku would be upset. We were supposed to be used to it by now. "I think we should come up with a better way to indicate what lifetime we're talking about," she suggested as we trailed Miku back through the hospital.

"It is a bit awkward the way it is now," I said. We each burrowed deep into thought, wondering how on earth to put into words what we had experienced.

"We could refer to them as whoever went crazy's world. Like, this would be Miku's world."

I shook my head. "I don't know about that one. What if we called them… Period 1? Period 2? This would be Period 5 we're in right now."

"I guess it's decided," Luka agreed. We were on the streets now, heading to the other side of the city with Miku as our guide. "Miku! Did you hear that?"

"Yes, I heard it," she replied, stopping to let us catch up with her. "I feel like we have a larger problem on our hands than names, however."

"And what would that be?"

"I've been thinking about this for a while, but the possibility of a traitor among us is not implausible."

"A traitor," Luka repeated.

"Remember what Mothy said at the beginning about not being able to do everything by herself?"

"I thought we established that Gumi and eventually Kaito helped her but then were betrayed," I intervened in a desperate attempt to knock them off-track. What counted as giving them information about the true game going on? Would not confirming their suspicions about Yuka bring doubt upon myself?

"No, no. I believe she said something along the lines of 'Of course I couldn't do it alone, but to think you would believe you had power…" Something like that," Miku explained.

"Who do you think the traitor is, then?" Luka asked.

"Maybe, it's one of the men wandering the city right now," Miku said. "Kaito or Gakupo."

"It's true that Kaito is suspicious. He's barely said a word this whole time," Luka said.

"And what grounds do you have for accusing Gakupo?" I asked wearily.

"I think the answer should be obvious," Miku hissed, scrunching up her face at a memory.

"Mayu, why do you seem undeterred by Gakupo's presence? I was just wondering," Luka inquired.

"Well—I mean—he saved my life many times in the fifth period. He was like a brother to me."

"He ruined your life, too," Miku mumbled.

"I don't believe that was him," I defended. "I… don't think it was any of you."

Their mouths clamped shut. For a long time, we walked. I wanted to clean my face. We were careful not to bump our arms against each other. I wanted to take off these clothes. After a while, Miku mumbled something about Yuka being the traitor. I wanted to forget everything bad that had ever happened.

More importantly, I wanted them to forget, so we could all get out of here together. Together.


	7. The Pause

Of all the likely places for the passageway to be found, I would have bet that the Hatsune Clinic and its apartment above were the prime candidates. After all, it was the resting place for not only Miku but also Kaito, two of arguably the most influential players in this game, if I were to believe it a game at all. Miku must have had similar thoughts, as I soon recognized the streets she led us down with increasing familiarity. Soon enough, we were at the front steps and I could almost see myself toppling to the ground, shattering the vial of poison in my pocket.

"I was hoping I would never have to see this place again," Miku mumbled to herself, transfixing her gaze on the blotted windows. Her trance was much like Meiko's after we entered her office back in the sixth period. I wondered if I had anywhere I could be entranced by, or if I truly had nowhere I could call home.

"Another dead body. What a surprise," Luka commented as we entered the bedroom where Kaito's body was laid. Though her tone was facetious, a frown had settled deep on her face. "So, he was your husband, huh?"

"Yes," Miku answered shortly.

"And that is why you killed me?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then." Maybe there was a strange kinship in it, killing people for Kaito, a quality they both shared. A quality almost everyone shared.

Through the roomy, gray corridor and here we have a totally furnished, open-air, gray living room, complete with an antique, gray grandfather clock and a dead, gray Miku crumpled on the gray floor. Not only will you be getting this marvelous gray room but also the gray bedroom with the dead, gray Kaito, all for the slim price of an eternity in hell. Thank you for your business. Have a nice eternity.

I questioned my sanity in times like these, but then again, am I expected to be sane in a situation like this? "No door," I pointed out.

"No door," Miku confirmed, stepping out of the kitchen.

"I thought this was supposed to be the ultimate door-spot. If it followed the pattern, then the room where the crazy person died is where the door should be," Luka said.

"The pattern is changing but not completely," I replied. "We still have one place to check, but maybe we should meet back up with the men first."

They looked at me with unenthusiastic faces but, since there really was no other choice, conceded to my plan. As they began to file out, however, I fell back, scurried up to the fireplace, and snagged the cyan doll poised on the mantel. It looked oddly like Miku, a ragged image made of sack cloth for skin and cotton for a black dress. Wiping away its little bangs, two button eyes stared up at me with an eerie human awareness, and then I was sucked down into the black hole once again.

I was ready this time.

 _"_ _No, there's two. I can feel them. I can't believe it."_ Pure felicity filled up Miku's voice to the brim.

And then an instant drop that sent pain through my stomach. Crying. Sobbing. _"Why? Why me? Why my children? What did they ever do?"_

"Miku, what's wrong?" I asked aloud. The crying was sharply cut off.

 _"_ _H-Hello. Hello there. You two are beautiful. What are you doing out here all alone?"_

The doll was still looking at me.

"Hurry up, Mayu!" Miku called from the corridor. Repeating the words over and over in my mind, willing myself to remember, I dropped the doll into my bag and caught up with the two women waiting for me.

The estate was just as I remembered it, though its walls were only seen in brief passing. Len spoke of it often after we escaped the city, shared memories. I cannot say it was as magnificent as in my mind's eye, however, as the life had been sucked out of it, replaced by an empty shell, as all things in this realm seemed to be.

"I wonder where Kaito and Gakupo are in their search," I said. The other two girls did not acknowledge any interest at all, but we got our answer soon enough. As soon as we made it through the front doors, I spotted them, sitting on the grand staircase with disappointed expressions. I bet they had plenty to talk about.

They stood when they saw us come in, relief washing over their faces at our safety and then regret, then—for a millisecond—anger, and then neutrality to end it all. It was like watching a mime show. I couldn't say I didn't know how they felt. "No door," Gakupo announced.

We met them in the middle of the foyer. "None on our side either," Miku said.

"Where else is there to look?" Kaito asked.

"I can think of two," I answered. "The closest one is, of course, the den of the Snake and the Rabbit."

A familiar glint of mischief flashed across Gakupo's eyes, but he stifled his momentary excitement immediately, undoubtedly coming across a less than fond memory of God-knows-what. We had a lot to choose from, but honestly, I was getting quite sick of all this intensity. Sick to my stomach. Actually nauseous. My only moderately happy moment in hell was that brief goodbye with Len, and if the departure of the love of your lives was your happiest moment, you have some issues.

We set out in silence, and I continued my brood about brooding. If I were to make a chart of who killed or desecrated whom in our little party of ours, I think they would have cancelled each other out in the end.

I almost walked right past it. It had been so long ago that I almost walked right past it, the place I called my home for a great many years. As soon as my eyes hit the sign—that stupid, poorly written sign that I wrote when I was twelve—I wanted to break down in tears, but as melancholy was my avowed enemy, I instead led the charge inside without a word.

The first thing I noticed was that there was no door. The second thing was Gakupo, sprawled across the dirt in the corner. The third was that a sudden bout of drowsiness had hit me like a train, and I was guessing that Mothy needed more time to assimilate whatever section of her labyrinth came next. The rest of them caught on to all three facts rather quickly.

"Not again," Miku mumbled. "I don't want to sleep here."

"I don't think we have a choice," Luka said. "I can hardly move my legs." She took a knee on the ground and then sat against the brick wall.

"If we must sleep here, then sleep we must." I, of course, had no problem with resting in this environment, and Gakupo shared the same sentiment.

"Should we do something about…" Kaito nodded toward the carbon body off to the side.

"I got it," I said, stepping up to the plate, pulling out my ax, and swinging down. The alive (well, dead but not) Gakupo let out a tiny shriek as the blade cut through his mannequin's neck like sand. The corpse was jolted and then melted down into ash. No more Gakupo.

"How could you do that to me?" He gasped.

"Dramatic as ever, old man." The nickname slipped out naturally. It took me aback. "A-Anyway, we should settle down to sleep. Who should get the bedding?"

No one dared volunteer. I, personally, did not care enough to bother with cordiality. "Okay, Luka it is."

"Why Luka?" Miku asked.

"Why not?"

Luka frowned at us but took her seat on the crumpled mattress nonetheless. The real reason why I volunteered Luka was because it was Gakupo's turn on the mattress, last I checked, and he would have given it to her instantly. If he had the courage, which he did not. "Who should be the lookout," she said.

"Do we truly need a lookout?" I countered.

"I think we do," Miku said.

"I'll do it, then," I volunteered, though my eyes were beginning to droop without my permission.

We took up position on the ground, situating ourselves as far away from each other as possible, like we were sitting on the ends of a five-pointed star. "I don't want to fall asleep," Luka said suddenly.

"Me neither," Kaito admitted.

"But I won't be able to help it, unless there's some kind of distraction." It was a forlorn statement, a statement lacking all hope. The silence invaded every nook and cranny of my once-vibrant tea garden. Sleep was riding in fast, galloping toward us with certainty.

"One time, I brought home to this garden a venomous snake," I said aloud. No one responded but I could see that they were all staring at me. "It was Gakupo's birthday, and I thought it was cute. He killed it right over there."

I glared daggers into Gakupo until he eventually spoke up. "After that," he said, "Mayu got really upset. She was about ten. She ran away, and I couldn't find her anywhere. It turned out that she was at Yukari's bakery the whole time, and she came back eventually with a tiny cake and a piece of paper with my name on it. I had never seen my name written out before."

There was a pause—a bone-creaking pause that I fear would never end. "Gumi and I were walking along a street of vendors…"

And that's how it began. Stories bounded from one to the next, stories I had never had the chance to hear before. Everyone got to say something, and for a moment—for the most brief and beautiful moment—we turned away from all the horrors we had endured. We fell asleep all at once. No dream came to me this time, but somewhere in the back of my head, I heard a tiny whisper. From what I hoped was my imagination, it said, _"Something went wrong."_

The door was standing without a wall to support it, right next to the well that I found to be poisoned. Gumi's shadow sat leaning against the stone, a vial clutched in her right hand. The pattern was not broken, it would seem, but I could not say that it came as a relief.

"There it is," Kaito said redundantly.

"I wonder what magical world of death we will be transported to next," Miku responded. The door was a pastel pink. I had a good idea of where we would soon be.

Not every inkling of mutuality had left us when we awakened. However, the walls of caution had built themselves up slowly once again, not as strong as before. "I guess there's only one thing to do," Luka said, opening the door and stepping right on through.

Miku followed, and then Kaito. Now only Gakupo and I remained. "Mayu," he said.

"Huh?"

"I have to apologize to you. Yet, I have no right to apologize."

I took one look at the man before me, tattered clothing and all, and said, "Don't be ridiculous. I already forgave you, so there's no need for going through the motions again."

"Wh—Again?" he asked, stunned.

"Yeah. You know, you apologized while you were on your deathbed. You remembered, right? Of course, it wasn't necessarily fair game considering I had no idea what you were talking about, but I did say that I forgave you for everything. So, that's that, then. I also forgave Gumi and Len. That's three down." I tested a smile.

He kept on looking stupid and confused.

"Time to go, Eggplant Man. Time is not on our side. I want to reunite with the others soon, although I'm not sure if you all are excited about it."

"I just might be, now," Gakupo murmured to himself. The door beckoned, and we heeded its call.


	8. The Black

A samurai, a seamstress, and three ghosts walk into a shrine… I was so prepared to proclaim this joke—this magnificent joke I had been thinking about for a while now—as soon as we arrived in Enobizaka. I was preparing because, to be blunt, we all knew where we were going to turn up, more or less. Green door took us to the sixth period, cyan to the fifth, this wasn't that difficult to figure out. Shrine, of course, was interchangeable with many things—orchard, tailor shop, dirt road, wherever we would turn up. Personally, I was hoping for the shrine. It was my favorite place in the whole fourth period. It was the place where I lived with Len, for as long as earthly mortality permitted. I was waiting expectantly to make that joke.

However, instead of the dead landscape of Enobizaka, I found my feet landing on the dead landscape of nothingness. Black. Just like when I took hold of one of the artifacts or had a peculiar dream. In the middle of it all stood Yuka in her black hood a purple dress, looking dour as ever. I had been working laboriously to combat the malice of the people around me, I did not know if I had it in me to conjure up any of my own.

"Yuka," I stated simply.

"I apologize for not taking this visit while you were asleep," she said. "There was a situation among the other Sins that needed to be observed."

"You mean our friends?" I asked, a bit bitterly, but the rest of what she said soon sucked the contempt out of me. "A situation? What happened?"

"An incident. I am not at liberty to say."

"You're kidding. You brought me into nightmare land and you're not even going to tell me what happened? Is it bad? Did someone get hurt?" _Did Len get hurt?_

"It's bad," Yuka answered. "Mothy has forbidden me to speak about it, but you will find out soon enough."

"Yuka—!"

"You know what it is like to be silenced by Mothy," she interjected.

"I-I suppose I do, but you have to tell me what happened to them. Please."

"All I can say is… Where there used to walk four, only three remain."

"Someone—Someone died?" It hit me in the chest, like a mother losing her child. Which one? Who died? Eternal damnation. I tried to imagine it. The blood rushed to my head. Who was it? Len, Rin, Meiko, Gumi. "H-How?"

"I cannot say."

"Then leave me alone. Take me back where I am supposed to be," I demanded Yuka nodded slowly, extending her right arm to perform whatever ritual deemed necessary. Bandages stretched across her forearm. "What happened to there?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Yuka cocked her head to the side a moment and then looked inquisitively at her injury. "I got into a fight with Mothy," she answered.

"You can do that?"

"I suspect my time as an apprentice is coming to an end. One way or another." And with that, Yuka, flicked up her wrist, and, like being sucked through vacuum, I felt myself being taken away. Instinctively, I closed my eyes, and when they reopened, I was in the Kagamine shrine, Gakupo at my side, right where I left him.

I suddenly didn't feel like telling my joke anymore.

"These things were a lot more comfortable in my memory," Miku said, twisting around and observing herself in her kimono. To me, the kimono felt perfect, natural, but I could not enjoy a moment of it. I ran my fingers along my cheek, unsurprised to find a scar slashed across it.

"And this room is a bit different, as well," Kaito commented. It was the bedroom for the head of the household and his wife. Kaito slept here once, Meiko at his side, and the image of it almost brought tears to my eyes. I forgot where I was for a moment and wanted to shout out how stunned I was that Kaito, Miku, and Luka had come back to life. _Len would be so happy to see his father again_ , I thought.

Reality, if that is what I could call this, set in as rapidly as it had left me. "Len and I changed the layout a little," I said.

"Ah, you and Len… Of course," Kaito replied, shaking off the illusion of life as I had.

"We should be on our way," Gakupo suggested. "We can catch each other up on the events of this period while we walk." He glanced worriedly at Luka, who grew gaunter by the second. As we all headed for the door, she stayed obstinately in place.

"Come, sister," I urged, clasping onto her arm and leading the way. I needed to fill my heart with something other than blood-curdling fear and decided upon pity as my substitute.

"I-I died, didn't I?" she asked.

"Yes."

"And you lived?"

"Yes."

"My—My memory is a bit hazy," she mumbled, letting me pull her out of the room and through the house.

"It's strange," Miku said as we made it to the kitchen. "All the doors up until now have already been opened."

We glanced around the corner, and sure enough, the front door was also agape a fair distance, just wide enough for a person to slip through. What's more, an urn directly beside it was toppled over. "We may not be the first ones here," Gakupo stated.

"Len and the others?" I suggested hopefully and fearfully. If they were here, I would get my answer. Whoever's face I didn't gaze upon would be that of the damned one. If Len was gone, I would never see him again.

"That must be it," Kaito agreed. "Who else would it be?" No one, of course. But the question sent me spiraling down a new corridor of horror. If it wasn't them, who else would it be?

The outdoors was just as we expected. Dark. Soulless. The trees that encompassed the path down to the tori gate were barren, and their twisted limbs were held over us the whole way down, as Gakupo and I explained in low voices what happened in the town of Enobizaka the Autumn I arrived at my sister's doorstep. It was no big reveal that Luka was the killer. Her eyes aimed downward toward the ground the entire time.

The friendliness in the air had dropped a few degrees by the time we ventured out onto the streets of the town. The search for the next door—and possibly our vagrant comrades—commenced. "I'm not sure where the killings all happened," I said. "Luka, I'm afraid you are the only one who does."

She did not seem happy about this but could not deny it. Not telling us our destination, she began moving down one road after the other. Gakupo floated up to walk by her side, and this time, she let him.

Movement at the corner of my eye.

My head veered around, and I caught a glimpse of fabric trailing behind a building. Automatically, I broke away and pursued it, Miku and Kaito yelling in my wake. However, as I reared the corner, there was no one there. I headed back as fast as my wooden shoes could handle and explained to my companions hastily that I thought I had seen something move. I was wrong. I might be going crazy.

Eyes. Eyes staring.

This time I had the sensibility not to make a scene. I must have imagined it, because as soon as I looked directly at the source of movement, nothing was there but empty space. A few times, Kaito and Miku would turn sharply toward something, but they said nothing. The paranoia was getting to us, surely.

Luka led us all the way to the edge of the woods, where a hot spring had always been. Women from the village would occasionally bathe here in the serenity of isolation, and I had even partaken of it myself several times. Those memories were unilaterally tainted as soon as I realized what had taken place here.

"Meiko," Luka said simply. The water was a ceaseless black now. It appeared to have no bottom, like if I stepped inside, I would seep forever downward. Was that what hell was like? Was one of my friends sinking right now?

I scanned the pond and happened upon no door. It wasn't like I expected to find it easily anyway. A different object caught my eye, though: a pink pitcher lying on its side near the rocks. Its color was so starkly gaudy against the depressing gray of the landscape, I thought someone else was going to point it out first. Yet, they glossed right over it in their pursuit for the door.

"Looks like there's nothing here," Miku conceded.

"I suppose we should go," Kaito said.

"Whenever you're ready," Gakupo told Luka.

Frowning, I quietly hiked up the rocks and took hold of the pitcher. For whatever reason, I expected it to be some cheap, plastic thing I could find in a dollar-store, but it was in actuality heavy porcelain. I hadn't known one could get porcelain this color before. Closing my eyes, I waited for the whoosh-whoosh-blackness-ominous-voice thing. Nothing. Then it hit me. Clamoring down the edge of the spring, away from prying faces, I filled the pitcher with black water.

There we go. Whoosh, whoosh. Blackness. I was standing on a sea of blackness. But at least I wasn't falling. Not yet.

 _"_ _So, you're a scientist. Science is very interesting, in my opinion. No, I'm serious!"_ Luka giggled. It sounded like she was right next to my ear.

 _"_ _You're at work until early in the morning. You're secretive. I don't even know what you_ do. _What am I supposed to think?"_ Science. Secretive. I tried to put the pieces together. There was a scientist. Who was the scientist?

 _"_ _Don't speak to me. Don't look at me. I never thought… To be so cruel, I cannot bear to be in the same room with you."_

Whoosh, whoosh, and I was back. The pitcher nearly slipped from my hands, but I managed to hold it steadfastly, although the water had sloshed onto the dirt. Sighing in relief, I placed it gently in my bag, quickly filling up with peculiar items, and looked up.

Gumi was five inches away from my face, eyes wide open, face expressionless. I was shocked in place. On second thought, she wasn't Gumi at all. She had her face, but her skin was too pale, her eyes too dark, her body too still, to be called human. There was something off about her. Something I couldn't explain. She stood totally erect, stare, stare, staring at me.

"Gumi?" I didn't know why, but I whispered.

Keeping her jaw clamped shut, Gumi mechanically turned around and walked away, farther into the woods. I did not follow her. I did not dare. That was not Gumi. Then, who was it?

"Where were you?" Miku asked as I crawled out from my hiding spot.

"Nowhere. It was nothing. I just wanted to check if the door was hidden around here." I contradicted myself just then, but luckily, none of these people were lawyers besides Kaito. He must have been a pretty bad one back in his day.

"Yeah, okay. Well, let's move out, then. I remember where I… where it happened, so," Miku said, preparing to lead the pack.

I kept in pace with Luka and Gakupo as we hiked back to the village. I was just pondering if we were to be hit by another sleeping spell this time when I heard it. Footsteps. Multiple. Everyone else seemed to hear them, too, so at least I wasn't imagining them. Unconsciously, I pulled the ax out of my bag and held it in a defensive position. The others seemed alarmed by my action.

The footsteps were approaching closer. They emanated from just beyond the buildings to our right. We faced the sound with mounting tension, increasing heartrates, shallowing breaths. Whenever I blinked, I saw the Gumi that wasn't Gumi, like an animated doll. Inhuman. The pool that never ended. Forever sinking.

First, I saw Rin. Then, Len, and Meiko behind them. My ax dropped to the ground. My knees weakened. If dead people could faint, I would have been on the ground by now. The three of them stopped a few meters ahead of us, bewildered as we were. Unable to contain myself any longer, I breached the distance and wrapped my arms tight around Len. The real Len, not some fake, evil doll-thing. I could hear his breathing. Yes, he was right here.

Somewhere, far away. "Where is Gumi?" Kaito asked.

Somewhere, even farther. Meiko spoke. "She didn't make it."


	9. The Intermission

I met Mothy when I was twenty years old—twenty for the first time, but not for the last.

The air was warm. Much warmer than what I was used to. This was the first time I had traveled since the day I left the city of the Capital, along with the castle and the flames of rebellion and Len's headless body, its missing counterpart probably being paraded around on a stake to this day. Yuka told me that it wasn't worth the trip, but I insisted that I needed the fresh air. My true reason for venturing this far east was different, however. Different and empty and altogether desperate. Maybe I had no reason at all.

When I concentrated hard enough, I could already hear the ocean, lapping at the shore of this tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't an easy find to say the least, but I had done my research thoroughly. Thankfully, as I roamed the cobblestone streets littered with sand and fish stalls, not one person recognized me. Even after Yuka and I had migrated away from the Capital, there still was the occasional onlooker who recalled a girl with hair like mine nearly executed the same day Rin Kagamine was. Not here, though, which made sense. How else would the person I was searching for live out a peaceful existence?

"Excuse me," I asked a fishmonger hauling a crate of bass. "Do you know of a girl, about my age, with golden hair and blue eyes? She's fairly petite. She would have moved here about five years ago." I tried to come up with other distinguishing features, but I could hardly recall her facial features anymore. Or his.

He grunted. "Yeah. She lives right by the chapel."

"Really? And where is the…" He was walking away. I flitted around a moment until I spied a tall woman, rather out of place in this sleepy town, wearing a black dress with long sleeves and lace that kissed the floor. "Excuse me," I said again, making my way up to her. "Do you know where the chapel is?"

Her chilling, blue eyes looked down upon me a moment, as if she was trying to remember something. "Yes. If you continue down this road, you should make it to the sea wall. Just follow that, and it will take you there."

"Thank you," I said, turning away.

"Are you new in town as well?" she asked suddenly.

I faced her again. "Yes. I'll only be staying one night."

"That's a shame. I wanted to get to know you a little more. Oh, well. We'll have plenty of time for that later, I suppose. Good luck on finding what you are looking for."

"Thanks…" Slightly unsettled, I went on my way.

She shouted one last thing to me. "Say hello to Yukari for me!" When I turned back, she was gone.

The chapel was small, its steeple nowhere near reaching the top of the cliffside that loomed above. I walked steadily through the white sand, sun blazing high above my head. A few homes seemed to be scattered about the cliff, but as I passed the chapel doors, voices emanated from the inside. Quietly, I pressed up against the door and peeked inside.

Rin, yes. Rin was there, sitting on a pew alongside a girl with long white hair. I almost felt like I recognized that second woman but couldn't come up with a time or a place. Rin had grown older, prettier, but sat modestly in her black dress and stockings. She and the girl were laughing at something. For a long time, they laughed.

I wondered what Len would have looked like if he had gotten any older. Then I wondered what it was I was doing here. To confront her? What good would that do? To forgive her? No, not yet. To kill her?

A shiver ran up my spine. I could almost feel a presence beside me, begging me not to. That's right. Then Len would have died for nothing. It was a futile trip to begin with.

"But in all seriousness," Rin was saying, "You should not put so much faith in me. I have done things that may surprise you."

"Like what?" the girl asked, smile still playing on her lips.

"It… It doesn't matter, anymore. I can't take it back. If it was possible, I would give anything—my own life, anything."

I shut the door and clutched my heart for a moment. A moment to breathe. Nodding to myself, I began back on the path again, carrying something with me that was not there before.

The next time was in the manor of the duke of Venomania, an instance I could recall with stunning clarity. However, Mothy appeared in my memories more often than I could ever sort out in that labyrinth, under that pressure, with those people. The third time was when I was a girl of maybe ten years, trapped in my own little manor in the countryside, with my piano and my governess as sole companions.

I sat rigidly on a love seat in one of my home's many parlors, feet not quite touching the floor yet. The book in my lap was ginormous—almost as big as me—and heavy as hell, but I was too absorbed to notice how it cut off the circulation to my legs. I had stolen it from my father's library after my mother told me that being learned was wonderful for a woman but being too learned was trouble. My counterargument was that, since one day they would undoubtedly matchmake me to some idiotic aristocrat, there should be at least one person in the house that could make intelligent decisions. They took away my sheet music for a week after that comment, hence the need to steal entertainment.

Footsteps in the corridor. Quickly, I shut the tome and heaved it behind a table in the corner, Then I scurried to a sofa, where I forlornly draped myself across it the way Mother did when she had too much to drink. The door to the parlor opened with a bone-chilling screech. Two pair of feet approached me. I gazed with melancholy up at my mother and the stranger.

"Mayu, sit up properly. We have a guest that wishes to speak with you," Mother said. I could tell this person was important by the way she kept glancing at her.

Sitting up straight, I observed the guest with curiosity. She was a tall, pale woman in a black gown and veil that old women wore to funerals. Her blond hair curled at the ends, and there was something about her icy stare that made me trust her and distrust her at the same time. "Yes?" I asked.

"May I speak to your daughter alone?" the woman said.

"Oh, yes. That would be fine," my mother replied, wasting no time in leaving the room.

Now alone with me, she sat in the loveseat I was huddled in earlier and looked me up and down. "Aren't a lovely child?"

"Thank you," I said. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I told your mother that I was looking for a pianist to play at the ball I am hosting next month," the woman said.

"Alright."

"How is your life here?"

"Huh?"

"Your life. How is it? I just want to chat."

"It is favorable," I lied.

"Now, tell me the truth, Mayu. What is it you like to do?"

"I like to play the piano. And to read."

"Noble pursuits. You read big books like the one you hid the corner often?"

I looked at her for a moment, trying to figure out if she was magic or if she was bluffing. After a moment, I nodded.

"It is a shame that intelligence goes to waste in this day and age. In the city, it is different, though. In the city where I live—Dahlia—women go to universities and become as educated as they want to be."

"In the city," I said, wonderment clear in my voice.

"Of course, you could never go to the city once you're married off to a duke, most likely in the middle of some farmland."

"No!" I denied. "Boys are gross! I've only met one not-gross boy in my whole life, and he called my hair weird and left without saying goodbye! He had a sister, too… I wonder if they live in the city."

"I have a feeling that they do," the woman said, standing up. "That is all. I just wanted to check in and give you something to think about. Farewell, Mayu."

I teetered to my feet and curtsied. "See you when I play for your ball."

"Oh, there is no ball." She laughed. "So long."

She left, and later that night my mother reprimanded me for not leaving a good impression. Meanwhile, _my_ impression of her soon faded, and I was left many years later with hardly a word we exchanged lingering in my memory.

Where was she in those cracks of time where we weren't killing and torturing each other? The truth was that she was watching, every second, and savoring each bit like a bite of savory food. Occasionally, she would slip into the quiet of our lives, leaves untraceable trails to entertain herself, and move back swiftly into the shadows. The next time Mothy and I conversed was more than a lifetime later, once again by her dropping on my doorstep.

Someone was knocking rather adamantly. Wiping the morning out of my eyes, I hustled to wrap my _obi_ properly around myself before I answered it. Len was wandering around somewhere on the shrine grounds, making sure everything was ready for the festival that was fast-approaching. I, of course, as the shrine priest's wife, had a vital part to play in the ceremonies that would take place, despite the opinion of those in the village who remembered what transpired the year my sister went on a killing spree. This insoluble family connection didn't make me fast friends, so I assumed whoever was at the door must have been looking for my husband.

"Hello," I greeted. The woman before me was a tower of porcelain skin and black silk the likes of which I had never seen before.

"Good morning, Kagamine-san. I heard you were once a great seamstress, and I am in want of a yukata I could take back with me to my own country," she said with perfect poise and pleasantry.

"Oh." I shook the surprise off my face. "I mean, I still do sew for some of the people in town, but there is a full-time seamstress just down the road."

"I truly do want _your_ work, Kagamine-san, if it is not too much to ask."

"Of course not. Um, come in." Bowing her head slightly, she took off her shoes and followed me into a sitting room. After she rejected my offer of tea, I asked, "Where are you from?"

"Far west. Across an ocean. I have come a long way," she said.

"Forgive me for staring. It's just—your dress. I have never seen anything like it."

"This? Yes, it is a very common style where I live. Speaking of which, I am going to be traveling back there soon."

"How long are you staying in Enobizaka?"

"Seven days. Yes, seven is a good number."

"It would be difficult to custom-craft a yukata in that time. I have a few that I have sewn in my free time, if you would like to see them."

She smiled. "That would be perfect."

I stepped out of the room and came back with an armful of finished work. Laying them across the low table, I described the stitch and material of each briefly, like I used to when I sold my wares at the market. Without hesitation, she picked out a black yukata, its size seemingly appropriate for someone of her tall and slender stature. The whole experience was like a dream: a beautiful foreigner strolling into my home for clothing I had kept hidden away for years.

"Thank you. Your compensation." She settled a few coins into my hands.

"No, thank you. It isn't often that we get visitors around here, let alone people from so far away. Your language is perfect."

"I practiced." She smiled again, but this time, I caught a chilled edge to her expression. My elation died down. Something cold sat in the pit of my stomach.

She was just about to exit through the front door when it opened itself, Len nearly colliding with the woman. He apologized fervently until she was out of sight along the trail to the town. "Who was that?" he asked, retreating inside.

"I'm not sure," I said. "A foreigner, apparently."

"There was something sort of scary about her."

Laughing, I wrapped my arm around his. "Don't worry. If she turns out to be a demon in disguise, I'll protect you."

He kept his grin to himself. "I would like to say that it would be the other way around, but I believe you."


	10. The Inhuman

She didn't make it.

I pulled away from Len and stepped back instinctively. A chasm separated our group of five from theirs of three. This made Yuka's warning undeniable. One of us had really perished from this realm into a far deeper, far crueler one. I couldn't even imagine it. Where was she right now, I wonder? The first who talked to me in this place, the first to admit their doubts, has left me and everyone altogether. And I was sure that she was sorry for what she did. These people around me probably didn't know, but she was sorry. Gumi was sorry.

"What happened?" I asked, finding it difficult to breathe all of a sudden. Darkness. She must be in darkness right now.

"We are not sure," Meiko replied.

"She wandered away from the group, and by the time we found her again…" Rin trailed off. She was different from when I saw her last. All of then were. It was like they had experienced something that morphed their perception of this place forever.

"There was a body?" Miku said.

"Yes. There certainly was." By the way Len was averting eye contact, I could tell it wasn't a pleasant sight.

A moment of silence ensued, either out of respect or out of fear. The possibility that one of them killed her must have crossed each of my side's minds at some point already. That left the question of who would be next. I, on the other hand, dismissed the theory as quickly as possible. I could not see any of them as the murderer (ironic, since they all—even Len— _were_ murderers). Something had been bothering me about this place anyway. Mothy would not leave open the possibility of no conflict, if we by chance all got along fine. Was it coincidence that someone died by unknown causes right after the five of us decided to work together?

Of course not. There was no such thing as coincidence.

"I feel like someone needs to say something," Kaito began but left it at that.

"Gumi was quiet," I ventured. "She kept to her self most of the time. She seemed to be missing her emotions, but we've all known her enough at some point in our lives to have seen her for who she really was. Some might say that she betrayed us by siding with Mothy and believing her lies, but she was targeted by her since the first time Mothy spoke to her through the trees of that very forest over there. She was given a choice between eternal life or the void. She chose life, but now she's dead for the last time. Let's find that next door and get the hell out of here. Miku, lead the way."

She nodded but then muttered under her breath, "Keep close," loud enough for the four from our party to here. Meiko and the rest seemed to get the message clearly as Miku started out at an aggressive pace. Truly, I wanted to fall back and ask Len all the questions billowing in my mind about their side of the labyrinth, but the defensive position Miku and the others were creating was cause for concern.

"What could have killed her?" Kaito asked in a low voice.

"We haven't encountered anything dangerous here except each other," Luka said.

"Is it really okay to trust them? I mean—Gumi died. I don't really understand what that means, but that can't be good," Miku said.

"I think we should trust that they didn't kill her," I replied, "and this is hardly a safe place. Who knows what Mothy has put in here to mess with us?"

"I understand why you feel that way, since Len is part of that group," Kaito said. "However, to trust them completely at this point is not a good move."

Gakupo remained silent, apparently deep in thought. It was a new look for him. I would have asked for his opinion, but unsure if he would side with me on this one, pushed forward. "Let me talk to them. See what I can find out. If any of you want to try as well…"

They shook their heads vehemently. "Keep that close to you," Kaito added, pointing to the axe that I had retrieved back from off the ground.

"Right," I murmured and slowed my pace to face the three that had shrunk behind the new clique. A clique of my own making. "Did you really see nothing that could indicate how she died?" I asked.

The three of them looked between each other a moment. "Not really," Len answered. "Her corpse had no obvious wounds… Only her face was all…"

Rin shivered. "It doesn't matter about the corpse," she asserted. "It's not like you all believe us anyway. They think one of us did it, right?"

"They have their doubts. You can't blame them," I replied.

"You, too, then?" Meiko asked. All the fire that boomed out of her every action at the beginning of this labyrinth had fizzled out into ash by now.

"No. I can say that with a clear conscious. None of you killed her," I said.

"What happened over there anyway?" Rin went on. "Those four were painful pairs of awkward sexual tension just a little while ago, and now they're all best friends."

"We decided to trust each other."

"Really? You guys full trust each other?"

"We trust enough to have made it this far without…" I trailed off.

"Without killing each other? Yeah, I suppose we had trouble in that department," Rin shot.

"You didn't kill her," I replied quietly. "I have a theory for how she died, anyway." They looked at me expectantly. "We went to the spring where Meiko was killed in this period. In all the other periods, there have been corpses where we died or were injured. However, there was no Meiko in sight."

"It should have been in plain sight," Meiko said.

"It wasn't there at all, but I did see Gumi."

"Gumi?"

"But it wasn't Gumi. She was standing right in front of me, all pale and deadpan. She walked off into the woods after that."

"How long ago was this?" Meiko asked.

"Not that it's easy to tell time here, but I would say twenty minutes ago."

"Gumi died at least two hours ago, in the last world we were in."

"Then that was not Gumi after all," Len said.

"Which means," I added, "there is something in this place with us." They were struck silent, the eeriness of it all affecting me as well. I did not want to scare them, but there was no other possibility. Even if one of them did kill Gumi, admitting it would only strengthens Mothy case against them—that they are evil in the purest sense.

"We're here," Miku announced as we reached a section of intersecting dirt road. It was where her body was found, also. It appears it was also the scene of the crime. Dried black liquid stained the ground, but there was no body in sight.

"No door." Kaito stated the obvious.

"Before we ran into you guys, we checked where I died," Rin said. "It wasn't there either."

"That only leaves one place," Luka said, "but first, where did the three of you come from anyway? Did you come out of the door at the shrine?"

"At the shrine? No," Meiko answered. "We came from some house on the outskirts."

"Yuka's, probably," I suggested.

"Yes, Yuka. I'm sure you all figured out that she is the traitor as well, correct?" Rin said.

Remaining silent on the matter, I followed as Luka began leading us to our old house, the only remaining option for progress. One of these days, we're going to guess right the first time. One of these days. It was somewhat awkward to have conversations in such a deathly quiet place, with no wind or life to rustle the silence.

"Len," I beckoned. We were all walking strangely apart from each other. Len came over immediately, something faraway in his eyes. "Where were you guys exactly? Where did your doors take you?"

"We were sent back," he answered. "We ended up back in the courthouse. So, we went through everything as quickly as we could."

"The seventh period, the sixth, and then you hopped to the fourth?"

"If by periods you mean… Yes, I suppose that's what it was."

"And Gumi died in the sixth."

"Yes."

"Okay." I stared at my feet with harrowing thoughts closing in on all sides. Gumi, gone. Others watching us. Who was next?

"Are you okay?" Len asked. He looked so young in his haori, hair disheveled like it always was back then. How old were we? Teenagers. Children.

"Yes. Fine," I replied shortly.

"Mayu." Yet, his frown was that of an old man. "What's—What's going on?" I turned to him in surprise, unsure of how to answer him, terrified that I didn't know how to answer him. He was reaching out in the dark, experiencing the fear I had been this whole time. For some reason, I was repulsed by the idea of him feeling like I felt. I wanted to quell his worries. I wanted to give him every happiness in the world, but the fact of the matter was that I could not. He was on the precipice of eternal suffering, and I had already failed once. "All this death stuff," he continued, face pale. "I don't understand it. I can't wrap my head around it. The void? Reincarnation? Witches? Sins? How am I supposed to respond? All I know is that I want to be wherever you are, but, the farther we go into this labyrinth, the more I feel like I'm never going to see you again."

"Len, I promise—"

"Everyone, I have to say something," Gakupo boomed all of a sudden. We ceased our trek and hesitantly turned toward the samurai in the middle of the pack. They all looked at him with varying levels of distaste, but he faced them head-on with nothing to lose. "Before whatever happened to Gumi happens to one of us, I have to tell you all something."

God help us all.

He got down onto his knees. This was getting increasingly alarming. Then, he lowered his arms and face to the ground in a bow. Quickly, as if forcing every word out of himself in one avalanche of emotion, he yelled, "ForwhatIhavedoneIgivemymostferventapologiesItookadvantageofalmosteverywomanhereandbroughtthemtheworstsufferingimaginableandtoeverymanIhavealsooffendedbyhurtingthosetheylovedIamsorryandwillneverhaveintercourseeveragain!"

It was honestly difficult to understand, but the meaning was unmistakable. No one spoke. After a moment, Kaito stepped up to the prostrated man and gracefully kicked him in the side. Gakupo let out a sharp "eep!" but remained in his position. I was surprised to then find Len leaving my side and kicking him in the same manner. When returned, eyes shut in boiling anger I rarely witnessed in him, I placed a hand on his shoulder and looked around, wondering who was up next.

Ding ding. It was Meiko. She kicked him twice, face unfazed, and then faded back into the group. I was beginning to believe that we were going to go all around the circle. Luka ventured into the space where Gakupo laid, and I could tell by the way he tensed that he knew it was her. Pity struck me, as I knew how he felt about her—despite everything, despite everything he had done—and the kick to the gut would not be the most painful blow he was about to endure. However, defying all expectations, Luka bent down and took his hand.

In wonderment, Gakupo allowed himself to be guided to his feet. Luka, eyes downcast, nodded once, turned, and walked away, back down the path she was leading us.

Sharing his shock, we did what we did best and followed. Gakupo stared at his hand for a long time. A smile twitched onto my face. "How do you feel about that, Mothy?" I muttered to myself. "How do you feel about that?" Len looked to me and my ramblings with concern but said nothing.

Our house was just as dreary as I expected it to be. We shuffled in one by one, and the nostalgia hit me hard. The only notable difference beside the depletion of color was the blood red door right in the middle of the far wall. There were exclamations of triumph. A few people even high-fived. Len and I smiled so widely at each other, I thought both of our face were about to be pulled right apart. Yes, the door. Despite the fact that it led us deeper into this maze, it filled us with the inexplicable sensation of success.

Luka in particular seemed overjoyed by its presence. Finally, out of this place, a memorial to her own guilt. She broke away and approached the door with reverence. Turning toward the rest of us she said, "I think we're going to make it. I-I suppose I should apologize myself—"

They appeared in such a way, I hardly knew what was going on until it was over. Just as Mothy and Yuka appeared and disappeared at will, the distorted figures of my friends—Kaito, Miku, Rin, and Meiko—manifested behind her. In another blink of an eye, they each had a hand on her face and neck. Luka's smile dissipated. Her eyes grew large. What was happening? She gasped for breath. Her eyes were now hollowing, becoming black, pitch black, holes in her face, bottomless pits. What was happening? What the hell was happening?

Before any of us could react, the figures were gone. Luka collapsed to her knees. Then face down onto the mat. What was happening?

What was happening?


	11. The Banishment

"We have to move on."

I don't know who said it—it may have even been me—but they were right nonetheless. _Right_ seemed like a word with no place in this world, as everything and everyone didn't feel right in the slightest. How could it be right? The woman crumpled on the floor in front of me, the man knelt beside her, pressing her hand in his—all this, was right? _This_ was divine punishment? The proper retribution for the crimes they were forced to commit?

Luka, too, was lost to me now. My sister, my patient, my client, my friend. Already, I was used to losing us. That made me sick to my stomach.

"Yes. We do," I said, stepping forward and placing a hand on Gakupo's quivering shoulder. "We have to survive."

"How can we survive if we're not even living?" His voice was a whisper, but it did not break. "We don't even know what we are fighting for or against."

"You're going to have to trust me," I replied softly. He turned around and my face must have given away some mysterious knowledge that only I in our group possessed. However, he did not ask any questions. Letting go of Luka's hand, not daring to turn her on her stomach in fear of her contorted face, Gakupo stood and faced the red door in front of us. Everyone else, still speechless from what they had witnessed, carefully maneuvered around Luka's corpse and followed Gakupo's lead into the unknown. We walked close together now, which was an improvement in and of itself, wary of every darkened corner, of every looming object.

My feet landed on cobblestone. I lost feeling in my left hand. At least the age change wasn't so drastic as to throw off my balance. If we truly were going in reverse chronological order, I expected to see a great many castles like the one surrounding me now. Before I psyched myself out, I glanced down at my hand. Bandages covered what was left of it. Lovely. I was glad Mothy decided to include that detail in her little simulation. On the bright side, I was able to smooth my hand over my face without encountering any chasms of scarred flesh.

"We seem to be in the west wing," Meiko said automatically. Her gigantic, flowing gown caught me off guard. A silver crown rested on her head, dull now that the towering windows around us let in no glimmer of sunlight. When was the last time we saw the sun?

"At least we are confined to one building," Miku said. "Although, I don't quite remember where I died. Everything was so… _dark._ "

"You died?" Kaito asked quietly.

"Almost everyone was dead by the time she killed me. Did anyone live?"

"Just me and Yuka," I replied as casually as possible, making it a point to keep my bandaged hand out of view.

"Ah, you live once again," Rin commented. Then, as an addition: "That's good."

"I…" Meiko began but fell silent.

"We should just try to find the door and move on. We're over halfway there," I suggested.

"If the labyrinth ends after the first period, I suppose you're right," Kaito said. "I suppose splitting up isn't such a good idea anymore."

"No, we should all stick together from now on. Don't wander even a few feet off. It's like—It's like when there's sharks in the water. They pick off the ones who stray from the group." Gakupo spoke like he was drowning in the ocean himself, gasping for air.

No one wanted to address those peculiar statements, so we said nothing at all as we began our journey. It was true that the darkness had disoriented us during the majority of the murders, but there were at least a few places we knew where the bodies ended up. By the confidence in Miku's swift footsteps and the hallways we barreled down, we were heading for the kitchens, where what remained of Kaito was discovered. My memory stretched to its limit now. My recollections were becoming fuzzy now. Still, the memories came in droves, memories from all over the world. They didn't come in any logical order but rather in snippets of imagery, sound, or emotion. We were all overstuffed boxes—water tanks about to burst from the pressure. Luka's sudden death may have solidified our ties with each other, but they may have also sown the seeds of fear. Fear led to distrust. Distrust led to Game Over.

I hadn't heard from Mothy in a while.

"Is your hand okay?" Len asked as we walked.

"Yeah, it's fine," I replied, hastily covering it up by crossing my arms.

"Can I see it?"

"No, it's fine."

He frowned. Len had been keeping rather close since we got to this period. His eyes darted about every few seconds, except for right now, when they were unflinchingly focused on my dishonest face. "Did it get injured?" he continued.

"No."

"Why is it bandaged?"

"It's really nothing," I asserted. Meiko, up ahead, tensed considerably, having undoubtedly realized what we were talking about."

"Does it hurt?"

"No. No, not really," I answered honestly. I could tell that the wound had healed over at this point. If one were to see my hand, two nubs would have replaced my pinky and ring finger. No, it didn't hurt, but I never went anywhere without bandages around it or often times gloves as well. I hated it when people noticed. I hated it when people asked.

"Okay," Len said, knowing when my stubbornness surpassed logic or empathy. Of course, I felt bad immediately after I realized I won the conversation. Bitterness intertwined most of my memories of this period.

We turned into a grand hallway with open door after open door. As my eyes wandered aimlessly, I saw that every room was as dark and useless as the next. What was the next memento again? _The seed._ How I was supposed to find a seed in a castle—beat the crap out of me. Once finding it, retrieving it will be another problem, since everyone took Gakupo's shark metaphor rather literally and no one has floated more than two feet away from the pack since.

A purple figure standing in the center of a side-room. A shock bomb burst in my head, and I nearly screamed. Yet, I kept walking. In the next room we passed, it was there again. Yuka, staring at me, one hand extended, beckoning me to come over. No one else seemed to see her. As we passed another room, there she was again, doing the same motion. Before she was out of sight again, I shook my head. I couldn't just run off without any explanation. In the next room, she was rolling her eyes. She lifted a hand in the air, and everyone walking suddenly stopped except me. Their eyelids fell, and then so did they. Frantically, I caught Len by the shoulders before he hit the marble and lowered him the rest of the way to the ground.

"What did you do?" I seethed to Yuka, who approached with her usual intensity, black cloak trailing behind her.

"I only did what I've done before, but on a bit of a larger scale," she replied. "And there's no need to whisper. They won't wake up until I leave."

Unsure of how to react to her anymore, I leaned against the wall and sighed. "What do you want, then? Mothy isn't with you again?"

"She's talking with her boss right now. That's the only reason I was able to come here undetected."

"Her boss…" I muttered. "Her boss could bring Luka and Gumi back, could he—she—it?

"I suppose he could. Mothy could, if she really wanted to. But neither of them will. He wants this game to go on more than she does."

"Is there really no way to get them back?" I heard my voice crack with my heart. I had to keep it hidden away inside when I faced the others, but now that I could finally release the responsibility of maintaining the calm, the loss of the two of them crashed down like the wait of the world. "I don't understand. She said there wasn't any way for us to die besides killing each other. That must be a breach of the contract, right?"

Yuka frowned at me like she was explaining to a child that her dead hamster won't be coming back. "It was one of her tricks. A word trick. Devils like her are awfully good at them, especially when forging contracts. She first said that it was a labyrinth of her own mind, and then she said that the only other way you could die was _'the mind.'_ She meant her mind. All this—the dolls that are and about and killing everyone—they are all portions of her mind."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Mayu, you have to listen to me." She approached cautiously, and I let her. I even let her place a hand on my arm. Her eyes were big and child-like, yet her words were full of unrelenting determination. "You have to survive, no matter what. You've given these people a second chance. Luka and Gumi would still be where they are now if you hadn't made the bet."

"Wh-What's it like where they are?"

Her eyes darkened. "You don't want to know. Mayu, I know I sound like a hypocrite, but I really won't let anything happen to you. I've been thinking of this for a while… When the time comes, I will need you to trust me."

"I don't know," I said.

"At least that's progress. At least it wasn't an outright no." She pulled away now and turned around. One hand rising in the air, she added, "You might want to lie down and play along." Quickly, I fell to the ground. Then she was gone, and the other began to stir around me.

"Ouch," Gakupo groaned, hand pressed against his head. "Did we just fall asleep again?"

"We must have," Meiko said, getting to her feet. Everyone followed like they were rising out of their own graves. "It was so sudden… Our heads must have banged against the floor pretty hard."

"She could've given us some warning," Rin spat.

"That's strange," Len said. "My head doesn't really hurt. Mayu, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, my head hurts a little," I lied. Better not draw too much attention to myself now.

"Well, we're almost to the kitchens," Miku said. "Let's just get this over with."

What a surprise. No door. Only kitchen supplies, and a pool of black blood where Kaito's body was found, which meant the doll-thing was wandering about this place somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me if eight were here. They outnumbered us now. Another surprise: as much as I secretly searched, there was no seed to be found. Of all the places, the kitchen seemed most likely to have it. I hoped it really wasn't just some little mustard seed tucked between some floorboards somewhere.

"Mayu," Meiko began. I turned to her with polite question on my face. "I have been meaning to ask you about this for a while, but that bag you're always carrying—you've had that since the beginning, right?"

"Oh, yeah. She has," Miku said. "That's strange."

"And, I've noticed that it looks a bit fuller than before. It's bulging in some parts," Meiko went on.

"Oh, u-uh." All eyes on me. "Really? It doesn't really look that way to me."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Meiko's eyes narrowed. A few people shifted uncomfortably. "Could I possibly… see the bag?"

"No, actually," I replied.

"Well, why is that?"

I took a step back. "I mean, as you can see, there's an ax in here. We all agreed I would have the ax, so I don't think I should be giving it to any non-designated-ax-holders."

"I thought you didn't want the ax."

"I've changed my mind. I've grown rather attached to this ax." Another step back. Meiko seemed to notice. I had forgotten that she was the Bear and that this was her castle. Everyone had grown quiet. Len looked between us frantically, not knowing what to do to diffuse the situation. Suspicion sizzled in the air, but no one but Meiko pursued it. She pounced. Before I could react, she had ripped the bag off my arm, dumping out the contents all over the floor.

An hourglass, a snow globe, a doll, a pitcher, and a list. Despite all the falling glass, the only thing that shattered was my hope of the future. Meiko dropped the bag to the floor and, like the others, had no idea what she was looking at. "What?" she asked.

I said nothing.

"What is all this junk?"

I said nothing.

"A list? What? This handwriting is the same as during the trial—this is Mothy's handwriting, isn't it?"

I said nothing.

"Mayu, don't tell me you got this from Mothy."

I said nothing.

Miku spoke up. "That's crazy. Mayu, please explain why you have all these random items and the list."

I said nothing.

"Mayu?"

"I don't want to admit it," Meiko said, "but we all knew there was a traitor among us."

"I thought we decided that it was Yuka," Gakupo interjected.

"Yuka and Mayu were always best friends," Rin refuted quietly. "They both lived during every period except the last."

Len was looking around like they were all insane, especially Rin, who he eyed with implicit betrayal. "What are you all talking about? This is Mayu, remember? She's the one who's got us this far."

"Got us where? Where are we?" Meiko replied. "I'm sorry, Mayu, but two of us have died. Seeing what happened to Luka when she was trying to make amends… I have decided to make amends in my own way. I need to get as many of us out of here as possible. We can't take risks."

"Who decided that you were the leader?" Gakupo shot.

"This is evidence enough for a conviction." Meiko displayed the list in the air for all to see. "You can't deny the likelihood."

I said nothing.

The rest seemed torn, but no one else dared to come to my defense. No one, except Len. "Mayu, please tell them how wrong they are. We know there's a good explanation."

Clenching my fists together, trembling with anger and despair, I said nothing.

"I say we go our separate ways," Meiko continued. "A banishment. We go one way, Mayu the other. If we encounter each other, we avoid each other."

"Sending Mayu off by herself will only get her killed!" Len shouted.

"Not if she's working with Mothy," Rin said. She didn't seem too passionate about her claims, but they were enough to alienate me even further. The others weren't meeting my eyes.

"All opposed to the banishment of Mayu, speak now."

"I am very opposed," Len answered.

"Anyone else? Mayu?"

I said nothing. I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell them everything, to tell them to trust me. But that trust was gone now. With my pact with Mothy sealing my lips, there was no way I could account for what they have seen. "Okay," Meiko said. "It's decided, then. You can have your junk, but we're taking the ax."


	12. The Disconnect

The rules of the game were as follows (and the musts here are very important, as there truly was no other option):

1\. In order to win, I must prove to Mothy that all the Sins are worthy of forgiveness.

2\. I must uncover the mystery of the Sins and why they exist in the first place

3\. I must collect the artifacts

4\. I must not let anyone kill each other

5\. I must not concede defeat

6\. I must not tell anyone about my arrangement with Mothy

I must not tell anyone about my arrangement with Mothy. It seemed like the easiest rule to follow. I should have known better.

At least I had my artifacts. I held my bag steadfastly to my chest and stood with my head facing the floor, trying to come up with a way to win. How was I supposed to win, anyway? Uncover the truth about the Sins? I was already this far and had absolutely nothing. Prove to Mothy that all the Sins could be forgiven? What did that even mean? Two people were already dead… Lost… I had undoubtedly lost.

My exile began the moment I walked out the kitchen door. Before it even shut behind me, I felt the cold hand of loneliness claw at my ribcage. If I were to lose them all, eternity would undoubtedly feel like this. They had stolen me from my world but then became my new one. Unfair. Unfair.

A single pair of footsteps was in swift pursuit behind me. I knew who it was and why he came, so I did not bother turning around. Instead, I forced my quivering voice from out of my choked throat with great struggle. "I don't want you to come with me."

Len placed his hand on my shoulder, effectively parking me in the middle of the eerie palace hallway. He was out of breath, in all likelihood having caught up with me after sharing a few choice thoughts with those I left behind. Well, those who left me behind. "I'm going anyway," he said.

"I know," I replied shortly. Yet, no matter how much curtness I injected into my glare, the relief I felt inside nearly knocked me to my knees. The cold hand retracted. I could breathe again. "I'm going to find the door."

"Right." He shrank back slightly, and I hated that I couldn't find the right words. Everything that sprang into my head was an excuse for what happened back there, but he never did ask about it. He merely trailed behind me like a lost child. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to where I found your body," I answered. It was one of the only locations I could pinpoint in this place—the ballroom with the piano forte. However, I doubted the elusive door would turn up there. The room with the highest probability of its appearance was Meiko's bedroom, where she ate herself, but I didn't exactly know where it was. The piano forte was closer, anyway, and it was unlikely that the others were heading there next. I didn't want to run into them until I came up with a plan to ingratiate myself back into their good graces.

"You found my body… There's a lot I don't know, I realize, about everyone—about you, what you've experienced. I wish…" he trailed off.

"Yeah. There's a lot I don't know either," I said quietly.

It didn't take long to reach the ballroom and the scene that awaited us there. Black liquid had pooled around the piano, seeping from the keys, just like how I remembered it. I turned away a moment, gagging slightly. I had been avoiding this memory ever since I attained it. "Are you alright?" Len asked, not sure which to be more concerned about: the piano from hell or the Mayu about to throw up nothingness.

"Yes, I'm okay. I just don't like this place very much, but we still have to investigate." No door, though. That much was obvious. "C-Could you look under the lid? See if there's anything?"

Nodding, he observed the black liquid a moment before taking his first step into it. The sound of his shoe hitting the congealed substance was enough to send shivers down my spine. Len reached the piano in two long strides and opened the lid as quickly as possible. Some more black liquid spilled out and onto his footman's uniform. Len made a few panicked motions but pushed on anyway, leaning in and searched the desecrated strings for anything of value. "What am I supposed to be looking for?" Len asked, voice elevated by fear and disgust.

"Well, um, like an eye or something?"

"An—An eye?" His hand shot up to his face immediately, feeling if they were still there. "My eye?"

"Yeah. Yeah, yours. See anything?"

"There's nothing here," Len confirmed and quickly got himself out of there.

I sighed. "I suppose that means there's a you running about this place, if there's no trace of your body except the blood."

"You don't think I'm like just a floating eyeball or something, do you?"

"Anything's possible." I tried to suppress my laughter, but some still ended up spilling out of my mouth. "Sorry. This isn't funny."

"It really isn't," he said, gawking at the black stain across his shirt and jacket. But he was smiling.

"Well, we should get going. I think the others must have reached Meiko's bedroom by now. They probably found the door."

"You think the door's there, and they know that?"

"With Meiko with them, I'm sure they've deduced it's the most likely spot."

Len nodded, amusement depleting the longer he looked at me. I turned away and floated back to the hall, Len close behind. Before we could venture further, I noticed that he had stopped walking. Pivoting around, I saw that he was staring at the ground with clenched fists, and he looked like a lost child. "What's really going on, Mayu?"

My mouth twitched but I forced the words back down my throat. His frown grew more harrowing, and he took a few steps toward the wall and sat down right there. After a moment, I lowered myself down beside him. We waited there for a while, hoping to find some way to reach each other during these extenuating circumstances. I grinded my teeth, cursing Mothy and her boss and everyone like her until I almost couldn't focus on what Len said next.

"Can I see your hand?" he asked. Without any expectation of success, I held up my open right palm, the perfectly normal one. He shook his head, and with little resistance, I handed over the left one, still covered in bandages to hide the worst of it. He held it in both hands gingerly, like he was handling a delicate butterfly. "Can I…?"

"Alright," I permitted.

Slowly, he unraveled the bandages. Before I could feel my bare skin against the stagnant air of this place, I pointedly looked the other direction. When it was bandaged, I could almost pretend that the two missing fingers were actually there, but now that phantom feeling was gone. "What happened?" he whispered, as if speaking louder would break my bubble of acquiescence, and I would pull away.

"Meiko got me. Bit them right off during a struggle. I was lucky that she didn't kill me," I said, unsure if I had ever told anyone that small truth, even in life.

"But your piano…"

"I never did play again. Never wanted to, not when I couldn't go all-out."

"What happened after that?"

"Not much. I couldn't play, so I couldn't support myself any longer. I eventually caved and went back to live with my parents. That was a mistake. They married me off to the highest bidder, which wasn't very high considering they were receiving an eight-fingered specimen, and then eventually, I died. The end. Until it started back up again, that is."

I felt him press my hand against his cheek. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"Don't—It's not your fault. It's Mothy's. Everything is her fault. Everything. I'd kill her if I could. I'd kill her." If I just found a way how, I'd do it. Thinking about her made my blood boil. Every nerve of my being rejected her existence.

"You're not working for her." It was a statement. I pressed my lips together and, like always, said nothing. "You would never work for her," Len went on, "but for some reason, you can't talk about what's going on. That's it, right? You made a deal or something—something that could save us. At the beginning, Mothy was talking like we were at the end, but then all of a sudden, we're a part of a labyrinth with no clear objective or motivation? It didn't make sense. It's okay. You don't have to say anything. I know you can't."

I was stunned. How on earth… could I be so lucky as to have someone believe me? Even if I don't say anything, he believes me. I was stunned. "A-Are you sure? Are you sure you want to trust me?"

"If I can't trust you, then it doesn't matter what happens. There would be no point. I-I don't mean to sound so cliché, but—Ah, you're crying. I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

Shaking my head vigorously, I kissed him fleetingly and then pushed myself to my feet, lifting up Len with my good hand as I went. "We're going to get out of here together, with everyone else. Let's see if we can catch up to them. You know where Meiko's bedroom is, right?"

Still slightly discombobulated by the ride of emotions we just sat through, he nodded and led the way, still grasping my hand as we went. We pushed through a maze of hallways—a labyrinth all to itself—but Len knew the way by heart, collected from his memories of his life here. We trudged up staircases and passed boarded window after boarded window until at last reaching the hallway where the bear slumbered. I only vaguely remembered this place, the last time I was here being when Yuka and I made our daring escape. Droplets of blood splotched the marble leading to her room, and I wondered if it belonged to me. The bedroom door was unlocked, and several sights vied for my attention as soon as we entered.

The door, a deep purple, stood in place of a closet in the back. Another splash of color illuminated a place on a low-lying table in front of a few armchairs. Red fruit sat in a basket—the seed. Yet, neither of these objects could tear me away from the three figures in the center, eyes blank with unknown intent, faces stolen from those dear to me.

Luka, Miku, and Len all stood in a perfect line. Their pale, sickly skin glowed white in the harsh dimness. My body froze with fear, yet I willed my eyes to search the ground, expecting to find another victim whose life was sucked out of them, but there was none to be seen. Next to me, with great urgency, Len whispered, "We have to run."

"Wait," I replied with every ounce of willpower in my being. "I don't think they're going to kill us."

They weren't doing anything, really. It was like they didn't see us. Slowly, with great whispered protest from Len, I took a step forward. All three heads snapped my direction, but they didn't move. I took another step forward, toward the basket of fruit on the table. Their eyes followed. Just like the Gumi I encountered by the spring, these dolls seemed to have no quarrel with me. I took hold of one of the red fruits and was whisked away in the blink of an eye to that strange place where no light could reach me.

"They call you evil, but I can't seem to believe them. Is it wrong for me to feel this way?" Meiko, who condemned not long ago, spoke with impassioned clarity.

"It's alright, little ones. I won't let them do anything to you. I've changed my mind. So, please. Be quiet just a little while longer, and we can escape." She spoke like she was talking to a child. The next lines were the same.

"I'll be right back. Just stay here a brief moment. I'll be right back."

The fruit was slipping out of my hand. Before it hit the ground, I caught it, still blinking back the memories that did not belong to me. When I looked up, the three dolls had disappeared, and Len was rushing toward me. "Is everything alright? How did you know they wouldn't attack?" he asked.

"I had a theory. It seems like it has just now been made truth," I answered, slipping the strange fruit in my bag.

Len noticed but did not ask. There was no use, anyway. "Well, should we go through the door, then?"

"That's what we came here for." With an encouraging grin, I stepped up to the door and prayed to whoever was listening that the three figures waiting here did not already satisfy their appetites with another meal.


	13. The Savior

Whether they were ahead of us or behind us, I did not know. However, two things were for certain. The others weren't where we were, and my legs were very cold.

I fully expected ending up in Venomania manor, but I was also expecting (or at least, hoping) that I would be wearing my nursing uniform—not this flimsy piece of purple lingerie I had spent decades scrubbing from my memory. I should have known better than to hope. Wrapping my arms around myself protectively, I tried to pinpoint where exactly we were in the cobblestone prison. Len was gathering his own bearings, adjusting his black suit with a frown etched deep into his face. He had tensed up as soon as he recognized the place.

"I'm not sure where we are," I admitted. "I never was permitted to go to this part of the manor, so we may be traveling blindly for a while." I looked toward him, and he was holding out his suit jacket to me. "Oh. Thank you..." Taking it gently, I pulled my arms through the sleeves. My limbs were bony and pale. The jacket bagged up around the shoulder blades, but at least now I could salvage some of my dignity.

Len smiled sadly. "Do you know where the next door could be?"

"There really is only one place I can think of this time," I answered. "The front hall. It's where Kaito killed Gakupo. If we can reunite with Rin and the others along the way, that would ideal."

"Yes, we'll convince them of your innocence this time," Len assured me, forcing confidence into his words. While it was true that I hadn't come up with a definitive plan for getting them to trust me again, I was sure they would reaccept Len with open arms, especially if Rin was still among their number. If Len was in a large group, a group with a weapon, I would ask for nothing further. How I would convince Len of leaving my side was an equally difficult question.

We began our trek.

I could not go on like this. The fear that gnawed at me inside as we turned each corner was too much to bear. Maybe now we were safe, but in the next period, where Len was a murderer, the ghosts there might not be so gracious.

"What's the next item on the list?" Len inquired, eyes stubbornly to the ground, refusing to look at the portraits lining the walls.

"There is no list," I replied loudly, so as Mothy could hear even if she was in the deepest recesses of hell.

"Can I see it?"

"There is no list," I repeated, handing the slip of paper over.

Len read it quickly and then handed it back. "So, we're looking for a flower." Yes, the flower. Its whereabouts were less obvious than the door's, as the location of these silly trinkets have so far held no pattern, except for the way I've crossed paths with them without going out of my way. It made me wonder: was it luck, or did Mothy knew where I was going to be this whole time?

"Wait," I said. We had been walking for maybe ten minutes. "I think I recognize this hallway. There should be a staircase just around the corner." Reaching back this far into my memories was proving to be a challenge—a strain on my mind, like a tightening drum. Twist hard enough, and the head tears. Was my head about to tear, too?

Len tried to hide his disgust with this place but it manifested itself plainly every time he dared to look up from the floor.

As I predicted, the staircase was there. The main hall was nearby as well as, in all likelihood, the door. Yet, I saw no flowers. I saw no life at all. My bare feet stung from the cold, uneven cobblestone bricks underneath us, and the girl who lived here all those years ago hardly felt like me at all. Maybe it wasn't. Maybe my memories were from someone else entirely. That thought arrested me with fear and consumed my thoughts up until a splash of yellow appeared in my vision. We had reached the foyer. The door stood where the front entrance once was.

"That was surprisingly easy," I commented, sending a victorious smile Len's direction. The came the scream. My smile cracked.

It was a woman's scream, not far from where we stood. Caught in a distorted echo, it was difficult to tell where exactly it came from. "Miku. That was Miku, right?" Len whispered.

"It was definitely her. Oh, God. Where is she? Where did that come from?" I took a few steps toward one hallway, and then a few more toward a different one. The scream came again, more distinctly this time. "It's this one!" I exclaimed, pointing to a corridor on the right.

"It could be a trap," Len said. We looked at each other a moment and then both sprinted off toward the source of Miku's voice anyway. As we pushed through dark hallway after dark hallway, the eyes of a hundred dukes watched from their perched picture frames. Everything was gray and blurred together as we ran.

An object obstructed our path. Skirting to a stop, I picked it up. The ax. The handle was still warm. Another scream. Len and I were shaken out of our dumbstruck fear and began our sprint again. We were close now. As soon as we reared the next corner, we were met by an explosion of color.

Rin, Meiko, Kaito, and Miku stood unmoving, Gakupo facing them a few paces off, whose arms were grasped by a plethora of pale, crooked ghosts. They were all women. Yet, he didn't look concerned. He calmly stared at the dolls with tired eyes. Like he was ready now. Before a coherent thought entered my mind, I was ramming between the wall of my friends, ax held high in the air. I sliced it down on the nearest girl, a perfect replica of Gumi. The other dolls looked at me without expression. Yelling as I went, I crashed the blade against four others—Miku, Luka, and Meiko. As they were hit, dust began pouring out of their wounds, and they deflated, crumpling to the ground in a heap of skin and gray powder. In the end, they were only glorified sandbags.

Darting about a moment in search of other stray, vengeful women. When none dared to stir the still air, I dropped the ax to the ground, hands surprisingly steady. I felt lighter after massacring those who tried to drag my friends into eternal damnation, knowing that there was not one shred of humanity to pity them for. Someone pressed my hand in their own, and I remembered all of a sudden where I was. Len was beside me, casting nervous glances behind us to the others.

"Long time no see," I chirped, turning around with a flourish, pretending like nothing unfavorable had ever transpired between us. "You dropped your ax, by the way."

"Th-That was my bad," Meiko sputtered. "Sorry, Gakupo."

"It's no problem," Gakupo replied, rubbing his arms where the dolls had latched on. He seemed like he was blinking himself out of a dream. "They pursued us pretty far. I... thought it was over, there." He turned to me now, relief finally flooding his face. "Thank you, Mayu. I never thought you were one of them."

"Are we saying this proves Mayu's innocence?" Rin asked. "Well, I think it's pretty good evidence, but I'm not one of the lawyers around here. However, I, for one, am in full favor of inviting Len and her back into the group. I didn't really want them to go anyway." She gave a little wink to her brother. He beamed back with gratitude.

"Now, this is all going a bit fast," Meiko interrupted. "We still haven't gotten a proper explanation of the list or what they've been doing since we separated. This could have been a set up to make Mayu seem like she was protecting us."

"Len was with her the whole time, right? What could she have done with him there?" Kaito said. "Unless you are saying Len is one of them as well."

"And how would she have known you would drop the ax?" Miku continued. "Unless she made you drop it with her witchcraft?"

I couldn't believe my ears. The tides were turning. "We still need an explanation of the list and all the weird items in her bag," Meiko snipped. Ah, the tides were receding. They were receding fast. Abort mission. Our ship is sinking at a startling pace.

"She _does_ have a reason. She just can't talk about it because of Mothy," Len said. That seemed to grab everyone's attention. A spark of hope ignited the hallway. I knew that they never wanted to expel me, but would they be desperate enough to believe Len's words? "She made a deal with her. She can't talk about it, or she would be breaking the rules."

"Is this true, Mayu?" Meiko questioned.

I stared at her a long time but as always, said nothing.

"She can't talk about it," Len reasserted. "Why else wouldn't she respond? She has to find the items on the list and do some other things too, though I don't really know what they are. But, don't you guys get it? She's trying to save us! She's the only one who cares about us! From the very beginning, she was the only one!"

"Making a deal? Finding items on a list? What does this have to do with saving us? And saving us from what?" Meiko said.

"Well, we _are_ dead, and we committed atrocious sins against each other and mankind. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out how we need saving," Gakupo said.

"What did you barter with, Mayu? Can you tell us that?" Miku asked.

I said nothing. To be honest, I wasn't sure myself. We never really laid out the terms for losing, besides that the Sins would all be sent straight down to the circles of hell. However, if I were to make an assumption, I was bargaining with...

My soul.

But I didn't say that. I wouldn't have, even if I could. "I'm sorry for the situation I'm in," I said carefully. "I just hope that you all forgive me."

We all turned to Meiko, waiting for a response. She and I were in similar positions, both of us wanting to lead the group to safety. Would I have trusted me? Yes, but that was because I was stupid and believed in these murderers enough to wager my eternity on them. On the other hand, Meiko had always been the most intelligent of us here.

"Alright, then," she conceded. I could breathe again. "She can come with us, for now. We should finally move onto more pressing issues, like finding that door."

"We already—" Len began.

"—checked Gakupo's bedroom, and the sewing room," I interjected. "Maybe we should check the basement. Much blood was spilled there." Len looked at me, bewildered. I mouthed "There is no list," and it dawned on him. We needed to find the flower, and it was too risky breaking our spell of confidence by explaining we had to go out of our way to find a mysterious flower for Mothy, when the door toward freedom is already in our grasp.

"Sounds like a viable option," Meiko agreed. "I'm not quite sure where it is, however. I don't actually recall my time here."

"I can lead the way, unfortunately," Gakupo offered. No one else volunteered for the job.

The group began its migration, alive yet hardly unscathed. Meiko had picked up the ax and gripped it with white knuckles at the front of the pack. Len and I stayed close. For safety reasons, obviously. I wasn't terrified or anything. "It'll be okay," I assured him. "We're almost at the end."

"Right. Almost at the end," he said.

We inched closer to each other. For safety reasons. Nothing to be afraid of. Nothing at all.


	14. The Selfish

To find a flower in a place like this. I suppose Mothy was anything but unironic. Speaking of Mothy, I hadn't laid eyes on her for quite a while—or Yuka, for that matter. Who knew what they were up to. It made me wonder and even worry. There seemed to have been a conflict on the horizon last time I spoke with Yuka. Shaking my head, I tried to dispel the thoughts from my mind. I shouldn't have cared what happens to her anymore.

Yet, I found myself hoping that the others around me would fall to the ground, and my old friend would appear again as they slept. Then, we could talk. Maybe I could finally understand.

Meiko and Gakupo led the pack, an odd and awkward pair. Not too long ago, Meiko would have gladly taken that ax she was grasping to his neck. One fell swoop, and his head would have been rolling across the ground like a saggy basketball. Gakupo didn't seem worried, though. Then again, he seemed to have been all too ready to die just a short while ago. Part of that sentiment irked me. Didn't he know how hard I was trying to get us all out of here alive?

Slightly ahead of me, Miku shivered. Her bare legs and shoulders were clearly subject to the cold, stale air that surrounded us. Wrapping Len's coat closer around myself, I intercepted Kaito who walked behind us, alone. His eyes quickly averted from Miku as I fell back. "You should give her your jacket," I suggested quietly.

"I'm not so sure about that," he replied. "I… have a feeling that we are not meant to be like that."

"Then, as her father, at least." With that, I caught back up with Len, looping my arm through his and watching to see if he would take my advice. After a few minutes, he quickened his pace, slipping his arms out of his sleeves and offering the jacket to Miku as they walked on. Despite her hesitation, she accepted it graciously. Kaito left her side immediately, but at least there was some semblance of a smile on his face.

Once again, the corridors grew more and more familiar. My gut wrenched in familiarity, and I had to remind myself repeatedly that I had escaped. That this life had ended. It felt like yesterday. It felt like centuries ago.

As we turned reached the stone stairway down to the basement, I could tell that everyone was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Len tensed beside me. I placed a hand on his arm to calm him down. The bulky door to the cellar was wide open. Mothy finally got one detail wrong. This door was never wide open.

The others were pooling right inside the doorway but did not move any further inside. I had to push past Meiko to get a look inside. Immediately, the fear that loomed over me here was more than a memory. Covering the entire floor, like a blanket of skin, laid hundreds of girls, asleep, unmoving. Many of them I recognized from my time here. Against my will, their names came to me in droves. I could almost hear their voices asking me why I was helping the man who hurt them, who degraded them into subhuman play things while their families moved on without them. Were they all going to stand now so they could kill me for this betrayal? Yes, this must be considered a betrayal, yet I could not regret trying to save him or anyone else.

The girls on the floor didn't move.

"No door," Rin whispered, as if afraid she would wake them up. "Let's just get out of here."

Far off to the right, a girl teetered to her feet. Everyone instinctively flinched away, but as I squinted to see who it was, I was seized by curiosity and confusion. It was me, way back there. Her dress was the same as the one I wore right now, and the window beside her was as familiar as an old friend. She was looking at me with a serious expression and, once she knew she had my attention, pointed to a stone on the wall.

"Wh-What is going on?" Miku asked. "That's you, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I think I know what she's doing." I stepped forward, weaving between the catatonic women strewn across the floor.

"Mayu! What are you doing?" Gakupo kept to a hushed whisper.

"I've got to do this," I responded, stepping over another body. Slowly, I was making my way toward the stone wall under the window, where the doll of myself waited. I hardly heard the bursts of concern that periodically shattered the silence behind me, as it took all my concentration to avoid the miscellaneous hands and legs jutting out from all sides. With one final leap, I made it to the wall. Somewhere along the way, the mirror image of myself had vanished. I sank down to the floor and ran my hands along the stones.

This brick held significance. It was where I found the card bearing the number _2_ all those years ago. Just as I thought, as my fingers curled themselves in between the crevasses, beside the rough tally marks I had carved into the wall, I skimmed something soft. Gingerly, I took hold of it and extracted it from the crease. It was a purple rose, crumpled up and wilting. At last—

I didn't have a chance to brace myself before I was launched headfirst into the darkness. My ears had barely stopped ringing before the words starting slipping through the quiet.

 _"_ _Come in. Oh, be careful of the step there. We don't want to hurt the little ones."_ Gakupo sounded like himself again, and by that I mean, like an asshole. His voice was tinged with that superficial bravado I so often was subjected to before he trusted me. He never trusted me at first.

 _"_ _I promise that this is the last experiment. We will want for nothing after this, my dear. You have my word."_

 _"_ _I can't believe she has betrayed me like this! Quick! Get the guards! Don't let them leave the facility!"_

"Mayu! Mayu, snap out of it!" Meiko was whisper-shouting at me, and I didn't know why.

Off-balance all of a sudden, I placed a hand against the wall that had just re-manifested itself into my reality. Then I looked around. The girls were getting up.

Oh. Hence the—Hence the whisper-shouting.

Shooting to my feet, I banged my head against the stupid windowsill. Wincing to myself, I quickly threw the rose in my bag and tried to gauge the situation. Hundreds of girls were languidly, as if they were rising from the dead, straightening their backs and turning toward me. Back across the cellar, Gakupo, Rin, Kaito, and Miku had already bounded back up the stairs. Only Len and Meiko remained, motioning for me to get the hell out of there. Good advice, except that I was already surrounded.

They were staring at me. I held my breath. They did not teleport all around me, grabbing every inch of open flesh and draining me of life essence. No, they did quite a shocking thing. Those standing in between me and the door moved out of the way. Soon, a clear trail of open space led right to Len and Meiko, stunned into silence.

Still weary of quick movements, I carefully began walking through the tunnel of women. Their eyes followed me with something like fondness somewhere behind them. Fondness.

When I made it to the door and my two friends, the women curled back up on the ground, dead once again. Len ushered me out so fast, I nearly tripped over myself. Meiko followed close behind, sealing the gigantic, wooden door shut forever. "Please stop scaring me like that," Len said.

"I had to do it. You know why," I replied.

"Yes, but—please." He was trembling.

"Okay. Yes, of course. I promise I'll keep out of trouble as much as I can," I assured him soothingly. "I promise, okay?" Len nodded, steadying himself but not altogether convinced.

"I wouldn't hold her to that one, Little Len," Rin's voice chimed from above. She and the rest of those who fled peered down at us from the top steps. "She's got that hero complex, remember?"

"We're glad you're not dead," Kaito added.

"Well, we _are_ dead, but that is beside the point," Meiko intervened, bringing back a sense of professionalism. "I think the only other logical place to go look for the door is the front entrance. Is everyone in agreement?"

"That sounds like a good plan," Miku said.

"Okay, let's get as far away from this place as possible." With that, Meiko shimmied her way past us on the narrow stairwell so she could lead the pack again. At least she had stopped giving me passive aggressive remarks.

The trip to the front entrance was short but unsurprisingly fruitful. Right where we left it, there in all its golden glory stood the door out of this place—quite possibly the last exit before _the_ exit. The exit to this whole damn labyrinth. "We're almost out of here, everyone," I said as we faced it a few yards away.

"I would like to think that as well," Meiko mumbled. She aimed her sharp eyes toward me and continued in a low voice, "Mayu, do you think there is another period? One before Queen Kagamine?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I don't know myself. I just have a feeling, deep down inside my mind, that there still are memories that have yet to resurface."

The voices in the black. Everything was starting to connect. Just one more push and maybe I would be able to face Mothy with an answer to her question. _Why have the Seven Deadly Sins manifested here?_

"Guys! Guys, we've got a Len!" Rin shouted.

We've got a Len?

I turned around to see a pale version of the man beside me, eyes dead-set on Gakupo's throat.

Ah, we had a Len.

"Gakupo, run for the door!" I yelled.

I didn't have to tell him twice, but even with his gigantic steps, he wasn't fast enough. Len the Doll appeared in front of the door, ax in hand. Meiko gasped, holding her empty hand up to her face in bewilderment. "When did he…?" she said.

He was cornered, and he was starting to get that ridiculous look on his face again—the one that seemed about ready to die. No, I wouldn't let it happen. "Len!" I shouted at the real one, the one right beside me. I grabbed his hand. "Len, you can stop this."

"Wh-What?" he managed to say through the fear.

"You have to forgive him. That's the only way. That's why the women didn't attack me in the basement or why my ghost hasn't killed anyone yet. It's because I don't blame them. Len, you have to forgive Gakupo right now."

He shook his head, still not comprehending. I tightened my grip. The doll of Len took a step toward his victim, but then he hesitated. "I-I can't do that," Len said to me. "What he did to you—I can't ever forgive that."

"You _have_ to! It wasn't him! Don't you see? It wasn't any of you! It was Mothy! Hate Mothy! She did those things to me, not him. Please, Len. I don't want to see anyone else get their souls taken from them. And _Gakupo,_ get that look off your face. If you let yourself die again, _then_ I'll never forgive you!"

Len looked back and forth from me to Gakupo, tears in his eyes. It was selfish of me to ask him to do this, just as it was selfish of me to save the people who caused others so much suffering. Maybe being a hero or a savior or whatever else they wanted to call me meant being selfish. Len shook his head again, but then all of a sudden, the walking corpse guarding the door disappeared as suddenly as it came.


	15. The Defiance

Len headed for the door first. No one else knew how to react. Relief flooded through me. We saved Gakupo again, and now we knew that there was a way to fight.

With our minds.

 _"_ _Only the mind, Mayu."_

I followed at Len's heels and heard his passing words to the Snake, who had fallen to his knees on the stone floor: "That doesn't mean I'll ever like you, though." I clutched the ax that I had retrieved from the ground, not wanting to abandon it, in case it may be useful again.

That's right. We didn't have to like each other. I didn't even like myself, at this point, despite not being able to even recognize who I was. Which one I was. Which Mayu was the real one? Was it the original? My original self… I would soon find myself stepping into her as soon as we made it through that golden door.

"Impressive, saving that mass rapist. A little late, though."

Len was no longer right in front of me, the walls of the fortress no longer looming around me, and the slightest dose of victory no longer pumping through my veins. Instead, I was in the cold, the dark. Mothy stood before me with her arms crossed and a smile—one that did not quite transform her entire face, as the smiles she bestowed before had. Was that my imagination, or did new wrinkles frame her eyes? This game was aging her. I, meanwhile, experienced the opposite. I felt ridiculous in this lady's maid outfit and my fifteen-year-old body. It didn't feel right to be this young again.

"On second thought," Mothy went on, tapping her chin in mock contemplation, "save as many as you can. It will make things much easier, later on, to break you."

"It's been a while," I replied. Yuka stood behind her, still as a statue. Her eyes met mine briefly, and I could tell that she was not permitted to speak. "And, maybe if I was given a little warning about the evil dust robots, I would have figured it out sooner."

"You were the one to compare my labyrinth to a video game. Shouldn't the levels get harder the further you journey?"

"Why am I here?" I asked, wanting to leave her presence as soon as possible.

"I thought it was about time you gave me a status report."

"Status report?"

"On the various tasks I gave you."

"Well, no one has killed each other, I've told no one of our arrangement, although it seems they have deduced a few aspects of it for themselves, and I am far from conceding defeat. It seems everyone is working together rather nicely. Hard to believe that these people are worthy of burning in hell for all eternity," I said.

"You say that as if that is very impressive," Mothy condescended. She spoke erratically now, unlike the others time she confronted me. Her mask kept slipping, and frequently a look of wrath overcame her face. She extinguished the emotion immediately, but the inferno that resided in her never would be stripped from my memory. I saw her for how she was now, and that provoked my own anger all the more. However, I knew that showing frustration over this game or Luka or Gumi would only satisfy her sadistic nature. "Mayu," she continued, "I hope you know that you have not defied expectations. In fact, you haven't defied me at all."

That might have been the greatest insult if I had believed her. "It seems you have abandoned cordiality, Mothy. Has something recently upset you?" I prodded.

"The only thing that upsets me is boredom, and so far, I have had very little reason to be bored. I should be thanking you. Even if it is only for a few days, I wish to remain entertained by you people. That is the only reason I gave you this opportunity in the first place. I have to squeeze as much out of you as I can before you float away in the wind like deflated bags." Her voice entered a crescendo. Shadows flickered across her face. "You should be grateful that I took the time out of my eternity to visit you personally. You look at me like we stand on the same level. Know your place. Human!" she roared.

With a jolt of fear, my feet landed on the other side of the golden door. Len was right in front of me again, new castle walls surrounded me, but the feeling of victory, whatever that meant at this point, did not return to me. I wondered what happened after Mothy finished her prideful monologue. Did she take her suppressed indignancy out on Yuka? Should I have even cared if she did?

"Ugh, this was heavier than I remembered," Rin commented, practicing her walk in a poofy, golden dress. An elegant crown topped her head. It was hard to believe how long ago the events of this period occurred.

"Rin and Len should walk in the middle of the pack," I suggested, "since they are in the most danger of being attacked."

"Actually, in this case, I would have to disagree," Meiko said. "Kaito and I may be in the most danger, since we executed Gumi, Luka, and Rin. Gumi and Luka are already… dead, in a sense, so we have no way of controlling their ghosts. The only ghosts after Rin would be Kaito, Miku, and myself, and we will try our best to _forgive_ you, Rin. It seems that is the most effective method of deterring them. I'm not sure who would be after Len. I don't remember him at all in this period."

"Miku would," Len replied, "since I'm the one who killed her. Sorry, Miku."

"Bygones, bygones," Miku said.

"And Len's ghost will be after you two," Rin added, pointing to Kaito and Meiko. "It's a bit late for the dramatic reveal, but he's the one you beheaded that day."

"Wh—"

"Long story. Disguises, teatimes, seaside villages. The details aren't important," Rin shot.

"Alright. Well, my logic still stands," Meiko intervened. "Kaito and I are in the most danger. Are we all in agreement?"

They all gave their consent. I was a bit late in my reply, uncomfortable with Len not being in the safest position. However, I had no viable dissenting argument, so I let it be. We positioned ourselves like a military unit, me with the ax up front with the ax, the largest man, Gakupo, in the back, Rin and Miku in front of him, Len behind me, and Kaito and Meiko in the center, where the dolls would have a hard time getting through. We were ready, Mothy, for whatever you threw at us. At least, that's what I thought.

"Where are we right now?" I asked, leading the group yet struggling to remember these recesses of the castle. I didn't know if I had even set foot here before.

"On the top floor, northeast corner!" Rin shouted from behind. "There should be a staircase if we continue down this corridor. That will lead to the floor where my bedroom is, where I killed… where blood was spilled."

"Alright. I suppose we'll head there first," I said.

"Where else might the door be?" Kaito questioned.

"The most likely place is out in front of the castle, I think. That is if we can get outside," I answered. "It's where the guillotine and gallows were."

"That sounds like it would be the place," Meiko agreed, "but I suppose we have to find one of those items you are always looking for, right?"

I said nothing. It got the point across, at least.

We traveled in our defensive position in silence from then on until Rin's bedroom. Considering everyone's close proximity, I was unable to speak with Len. I wanted to thank him for forgiving Gakupo, for many things. It would have to wait until privacy was possible. Then again, privacy would leave us open for attack. Perhaps I would have to tell him when we were in another place, one much brighter than this one.

Despite the difficulties of maintaining formation while descending the stairs, we made it to the bedroom without incident. After what Mothy said about increasing difficulty, I doubted that it would be this way for long.

The sight of Rin's bedroom sent a few more lost memories trickling into the back of my mind. Her secret correspondence with Len, picking out her dresses, helping her escape the castle as the town burned down outside the window… This is where it all started. If not _the_ original world, it was at least _my_ original world. That's what Yuka told me, at least. I was unplanned, spontaneous. It led me to wonder what the plan was in the first place.

"No door," Rin observed with a huff.

Len looked at me expectantly, and I shook my head. No artifact either. "Can I see the list?" he asked. I took it out of my bag and handed it over. "'The stone,'" he recited. "It's the last one." Everyone else gathered around the list in curiosity, having not laid eyes on it since the whole exile incident. After a moment, Len said, "I think I may know where this is."

"Where?" Meiko asked for me.

"The servants' quarters in the basement."

Rin seemed to catch on, for whatever reason. "Yes! I think you're right."

"Well, let's get on with it, then. We're almost to the end, and I can hardly stand it," Gakupo said.

Reassuming defensive position, we set off again with a distinct goal in mind. Quickly, quickly. As long as we worked quickly, everything should turn alright. After my and Mothy's brief conversation, it seemed unlikely that finding this last door would be the end, but I didn't tell the others that. For now, at least, they can share the hope of being on the brink of salvation.

Under Rin's directions, we weaved through the castle. Once we made it to the bottom floor, I could manage on my own, but there were several distinct differences between this place and reality, as if all the events of this period were blending together into one building. For example, in the main hall, where Rin broke our bunny's neck, a well stood in the center of the marble floor.

"What is this?" Miku asked, pale all of a sudden.

"She wants us to recall bad memories," I replied immediately. "We shouldn't pay it any mind." I did, however, peek down inside for any glints of yellow. Nothing. Only black.

We passed by a room covered in sand, a white chapel sitting right in the middle of it. It was like some demented museum of our time here. Another held the first household I ever served under. I could have lived a normal life here. I would have worked under a normal mistress, married a normal village boy, maybe raise a few kids, but… no.

No. I couldn't think like this.

Forced to break formation on the narrow steps to the basement, I held up my ax to the ready around the sharp bend. Still no one. Was it because they had forgiven each other? Mothy wouldn't let us leave that easily. Once we regrouped down in the servants' hall, Len directed me to his old bedroom. It was small, an exact replica of the one Yuka and I shared for that short span of time that define our lives. He broke away and rifled through a chest of drawers until finally, he turned around with a glowing, golden gemstone in his hand.

"Is this it?" he asked expectantly. Smiling, I held my hands out, unable to give verbal reply. "It was my mother's," Len explained as he set it down in my palm. Closing my eyes, I welcomed the final piece of the puzzle to fall into place.

 _"_ _Mommy, where are we going?"_ Rin wondered. Her voice was small. A child's.

 _"_ _Yes, we've never gone this far into the woods before,"_ Len added.

 _"_ _Where did they go? Where are we?"_ Len's voice again. Some time had passed.

 _"_ _Don't worry, Len. It's an adventure, like in all those fairy tales we read."_

Another skip in time. _"The witch! The witch! Burn the witch!"_ Rin giggled.

 _"_ _And her henchman, too!"_

My knuckles were white. I was clenching the gemstone too tightly. "That's the last one, right?" Len was saying.

"No, no. Now I'm confused again," I murmured. "This was supposed to solve the remaining mysteries, but now I only have more questions."

"Do you guys hear that?" Miku exclaimed suddenly.

Placing the stone in my bag, I listened in silence with the rest of them. Crackling. I had heard this sort of crackling before.

Fire.


	16. The Inferno

How long ago was it, back at that mansion? A day? Maybe two? I still saw the flames when I blinked. My lungs contracted aggressively at the memory. Fire. As soon as I heard its unmistakable call, I felt it singe the air and fill it with the stench of burning. With the imprint of the stone still lingering in my palm, I found myself disoriented. Where was I? Who was I?

"Quickly!" Meiko urged, holding the door to Len's bedroom open. "We have to get to the execution grounds immediately."

"Right," I said, though only half of what she said made sense to me. Quickly. We had to move quickly. Those who also experienced suffocation at the hands of the inferno were already halfway out the door.

Only Miku, dead by that time, seemed to maintain some semblance of calm. "Wait! We have to get back in formation!" she shouted uselessly. A primal fear had taken over, and no one would heed her words in this state.

Gakupo and Rin were the first to book it, followed by Meiko who grew impatient of holding the door for those who hesitated. Taking holding of Len's wrist, I pushed through the hallway and my own head-splitting confusion and followed their lead. Kaito and Miku eventually appeared behind us, and I pieced together at last was Miku had said. Formation. She was right. We were vulnerable now. At least I still had the ax.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, skidding to a stop with Len in the servants' hall to let them catch up with us. Meiko was still ahead, already up the narrow staircase and onto the first floor. Wordlessly, we forged ahead now as a group of four.

Once we made it back under the high vaulted ceilings, we could see the other three still rushing to get to the front entrance. We pursued, eventually losing sight of them, but we were close enough to the main hall that there wasn't need for alarm. At least, that's what I said aloud to assure those sprinting at my side.

Breaking out into the foyer, our destination, we halted again. Gakupo and Rin were both doubled over, trying to catch their breath, a look of panic in their eyes. "Where's Meiko?" Len asked his sister.

"Gumi and L-Luka," Rin sputtered, exhausted. "They were waiting for us. She ran off to try to lose them."

"Which way?" Kaito demanded. Gakupo pointed down the hallway we first came from. "Mayu, can I…?"

He was staring at my ax. I threw it to him, knowing he would be a faster runner than myself. However, before he could set out after her, footsteps came billowing towards us. From down that same hallway where she escaped to, Meiko appeared again, this time running toward us. Soon after, the pale forms of Luka and Gumi appeared as well, keeping a fast but stable distance between themselves and Meiko. I would have found this stranger if I wasn't so panicked. If these dolls could teleport great distances in the blink of an eye before, why were they prolonging the hunt for Meiko? For whatever reason, they spared her up until she made it back to us in the main hall. She was starting to lose stamina. Her steps slowed.

As she and her pursuers flew past, Kaito slashed at them. The ax's blade collided with the back of Luka's calf, and she sank to the floor as gray powder spilled out from her wound. Kaito then went from the last hostile entity, who had cornered Meiko near the front door. I found myself taking a courageous step forward before shrinking back again several times, wanting to help but unsure how. There also lingered that promise with Len that I would no longer put myself in harm's way.

Haphazardly, Kaito swung again, nicking Gumi in the arm. Instead of shriveling up like Luka had done, this Gumi reared her pale face around at him. Without a moment of hesitation, Gumi, in the dirty clothing she lived and died in prison with, extended her hand palm-out and slammed it against Kaito's chest. He stumbled back, eyes wide in painful surprise. Gumi and Luka were gone now, having accomplished what they set out to do. At the same time as Kaito collapsed onto his back, the first of fire's fingers appeared, clutching the corner of the main hall and the corridor where we had come from. The flames were purple. We hardly even noticed.

Kaito was dying. That much was obvious. Somebody had screamed when he hit the floor, but I was unsure who it was. Like solemn angels gathering at a dying man's bedside, we floated over to him, regret evident on our faces, but we had experienced this sort of pain so many times now that there remained an air of acceptance. Kaito struggled for air. The veins on his neck strained. Whatever she had done to him, he could no longer live in this already intangible body of his. Some stood silently, others such as myself and Len knelt down next to him but kept a safe distance away. Miku joined us on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Despite all the strangeness that laid between them, at least there remained something akin to love. And if there was any form of love there, both of their hearts must have been breaking.

"It's alright," Miku said soothingly, one hand on his arm. Kaito nodded then and, feeling his face sinking in just as Luka's had done, hid it in the crook of his arm so we did not have to see the ghastly sight again. When his chest finally stopped its irritable heaving, we knew it was over. The fire had now covered the entire right wall.

"We have to move on," Meiko said after a moment, "for all of them."

Adrenaline beginning to replace mourning once again, I and the others stood up, abandoning Kaito's body to the flames. A fitting end for the man who trapped us all in a fire. I bet that was what Mothy was thinking right about now. Meiko grasped the handles of the front entrance, our destination. Outside would be the gallows and the guillotine and the door out of here. Out of this hell. Into a better place, a place of light and no witches to drag us down again. Part of me wanted to yell "Stop!" knowing that we would be abandoning those who died here forever. And Yuka, too. She couldn't stand with us at the end, either.

Meiko pushed. The door didn't budge. Undeterred, she then pulled. The grand slabs of ornate wood opened its arms for us to reveal…

A brick wall.

"What?" I found myself saying. We all stared, deadpan, at the immovable bricks, expecting them to explode or something to reveal the true exit.

"We were wrong," Gakupo said hollowly.

"If everything's all mashed together, like the well and the chapel and everything, maybe the execution grounds are elsewhere as well," Miku suggested, hiccupping, wiping stray tears from her cheeks.

"Well, what do we do then?" Rin asked.

"Run?" Len guessed.

Run.

We ran.

With no better options, we decided to go down the hall Meiko had sprinted down just a few moment's ago. As we went, we pushed open room after room, hoping to catch sight of a door of any color but gray and black. Nothing. Nothing. Wrong. Wrong again.

"What if it's…" Rin said, glancing back at the fire still raging behind us, methodically ravaging the main hall and the corridor behind us.

"It wouldn't be," I assured her. "If we had already lost, Mothy would be here, gloating, by now."

Once we threw open maybe our twelfth door, we were beginning to lose hope. We had to travel up a floor and continue on. Taking a moment to catch our breaths, we turned retrace our steps and find the stairs; however, a small figure stood in our way.

Yuka, fists clenched, mouth still frozen in an obstinate frown, faced us with a fire in her eyes much like the one raging on in this very building. The others did not know how to react. They had not seen her at all since stepping foot in the afterlife. I, just as confused, had to clamp my mouth shut in fear of somehow breaking the rules if I acknowledged that I knew she was here.

"It's been a while, everyone," she said. "It's a long story, but if you want to find the door, follow me."

"W-What?" Meiko stuttered. "No! You're with _her,_ right? You're just trying to trick us. I don't know why you're doing this, but step aside."

"I understand why you don't trust me, but I swear I'm here to help. Mayu, you can speak freely now. I've distracted Mothy with my fire." Yuka spoke quickly now, desperation starting to take over. We didn't have much time.

" _Your_ fire?" I asked. "You're saying you are defying her?"

"I've been meaning to for a while. I'll be in hiding after this," she explained. "Please, Mayu. Tell them I'm being legitimate. I want to _help._ "

"Mayu, you've had contact with her?" Gakupo questioned.

"Yes," I admitted. "She and Mothy both, but separately at some points. She… She may be telling the truth."

"If you can speak freely now, you can tell us everything. _Then,_ we may believe Yuka," Meiko said.

"We don't have time!" Yuka shouted.

"Mothy and I made a bet," I said. "You guys were right. The rules are weird and complicated, but she's right. I don't have time to explain. You all are the Seven Deadly Sins, and we have to get you guys out of here so you don't spend eternity in hell. Yuka was working with Mothy. It's true. The whole time, she's been lying to us, but for some reason—maybe it's because I'm an idiot but—I believe her. A-And I'm going with her. Please, come with us." Against my better judgement, I walked over to Yuka and stood by her side.

"We don't have much of a choice," Gakupo intervened, stepped over as well.

And for reasons beyond my comprehension, when Len joined us, he was smiling. This boy might've been crazier than me, but at least we were crazy for the same reason. As much as I wanted to trust everyone, he wanted to trust me.

Left with little other choice, Rin, Miku, and Meiko conceded as well. With Yuka at the forefront, we were running again. Her cloak floated on the air behind her like bird's wings. She led us to the staircase, and we headed upwards with renewed stamina. Fear rippled through us all when we discovered the second floor consumed by flames. It crackled and smoked and writhed about in a purple glow, but Yuka didn't show any trepidation. She stepped right into the flames that covered one of the grand corridors.

"Come on!" she urged.

"You're crazy!" Rin yelled. "Maybe they don't hurt a crazy witch bitch like you, but we humans aren't stupid enough to walk into a raging fire!"

"These flames won't hurt you!" Yuka replied. "I told you that _I_ made them, didn't I? Let's go!"

Shaking my head at my own idiocy, I did as she said, dragging Len along with me. As soon as the flames touched me, I realized she was telling the truth. They felt warm and inviting, not burning hot and hostile. The flames submerged us like water, but the air felt clearer amidst the fire than anywhere else in this hell labyrinth. "She's right!" I confirmed to those still waiting at the staircase.

"Goddammit!" I heard Rin curse. She and the rest of them followed our lead. Now, we were all among the purple inferno. For the first time ever, I witnessed magic in its true magnificence.

Abruptly, Yuka stopped into front of a door at the end of the hall. Opening it up with a flick of her wrist, she led us out of the flames and into a parlor. A door the color of black, a blacker black than I thought possible, stood awkwardly in the center of the far wall. Its golden doorknob made it official. It was the way out.

"Finally! We're out!" Miku exclaimed, placing a soot-covered hand on the black wood.

Yuka pressed her lips together a moment, neither confirming nor denying that statement. "Thank you for trusting me," Yuka said, "and I'm sorry for everything I've done. I want you guys to know that I didn't really find my existence enjoyable until I met you all. I really mean that."

"If we forgave that one," Len replied, gesturing toward Yuka. "I think we can manage to forgive you, too. You saved us, after all."

She smiled sadly. "Okay, let's not waste any more time. Through the door you go." She caught me by the arm. "One moment, Mayu. There is something I have to discuss with you."

"You can discuss it with all of us," Meiko interjected.

"Please," Yuka said. "This is the last time I ask you to trust me."

With great hesitance, they nodded their heads. One by one, they made it through the black door. Its presence seemed to displace the very air. I grew disconcerted. Before Len, the last to go, left us, I gave him a quick hug. "See you on the other side," I whispered.

"See you on the other side," he repeated.

Alone now with Yuka. She looked at me guiltily. I didn't think it would be this easy. "There is one last stage to this game," she divulged at last.

"I suspected so," I said.

"It is where you can piece together the rest of the story, but it's the part of this story that you were not a part of. You never held an existence in the realm you are about to enter."

"It's where the Sins originated, isn't it?"

"Yes. In a way. It's not a pleasant place, and it will test you in ways you cannot even imagine. I don't know all the plans Mothy has for you, but the secret to everything is through that door. I don't doubt that you'll solve all the mysteries. This place, however, is unlike the other periods you have traversed across here. I have to warn you." She paused. "They may not remember what's going on."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Their next seven lives, dying, this place, Mothy, me, you. I believe that is what Mothy has in store. They will be converted back into their selves of this truly first period. The Original Period. Do you understand?"

"I… I don't."

"It's almost time to leave now," Yuka said, smiling sadly. "I don't think we'll ever see each other again."

"Wait, Yuka—"

She wrapped her arms around me briefly. "You've been right this whole time, Mayu. Whoever you find waiting for you on the other side, don't stop believing in them, just as you didn't stop believing in me. Goodbye."

She disappeared. Right from my arms, she disappeared.


	17. The Color

Everything was in color.

They assaulted my eyes, the colors, despite them being only sullen shades of green and brown, illuminated vaguely by the snippets of moonlight leaking through the foliage. The air felt cool and alive. A breeze whistled past, ruffling my hair and the hem of my dress. For the first time since dying, I almost felt like I was alive. However, not noticeable at first, there still lay a feeling of wrongness in the grass that rustled under my feet, in the twinkling stars overhead, evidence of this world's synthetic nature.

Needing to catch my breath, I leaned back, expecting to hit the door where I just entered from, but instead I met air and had to catch myself before toppling over to the ground. One of my heeled shoes hit something soft. Whirling around, I witnessed a small sea of bodies, breathing, somehow at peace lying on the dirt ground of the forest. I had just by accident stepped on Miku's forearm. She stirred a moment but settled down again quickly.

Next to her laid Gakupo, then Meiko, and then Rin and Len at the back. They all seemed roughly the same age, and it occurred to me that I should try to figure out what I looked like myself.

Without anything to go off of, Mothy had shoved me back into the black dress I had started this journey in, kind of like how a little puts their favorite outfit on one of their dolls. Black, heeled shoes tested my balance on the uneven ground. They were followed by high, black socks with lace that tickled my knees. Then came the dress—also black, with red bows along its hem and lace stretching up either side of a road of buttons that traveled down my middle. Lace collar, sleeveless, long, black gloves that reached my elbows, a young face whose age I couldn't pinpoint, and, to mock me, a big red bow through my tousled hair. I ripped it out immediately and, with nothing better to do until my friends woke up, tied it around the handle of the ax that managed to push through the fire as I had.

"What? You didn't like the bow? I thought it was adorable myself." Mothy walked out from behind a thick tree. Though her words were playful, her expression and tone betrayed not a hint of facetiousness. A purple scar ran up her arm, where the sleeve had been violently torn off.

"It's cuter on the ax," I replied, suppressing my nerves.

"Let me get to the crux of the matter," Mothy continued, steadily stepping forward. I could see her inflamed scars more vividly now. They looked like they hurt fantastically. "Tell me where Yukari is."

"Why on earth would I know where she is?" I asked without hesitation.

"Don't play stupid with me. I know she showed you where the door was, and that is why she made her little fire," Mothy said. "Now, she's missing, and I want to know where she is, so I can wring her neck until her lungs dry up like raisins. She betrayed you, and you are very right in your anger. There is no need to protect her."

"I don't know where she is," I contended, louder this time.

"If you tell me where she is, we will be even. I know you broke the rules. You told them about our agreement. I'm not an idiot. If you don't speak, it's game over. I'll enjoy watching you all suffer for a few eternities," she spat, teeth bared.

"I don't know where she is!" I shouted. "Even if I did, you're offer means nothing! I didn't break the rules. You must not have been watching, or else you would have known that. You wouldn't have offered an empty deal if you had been doing your job properly."

"You broke the rules!" Mothy roared.

"Prove it, then!" I retorted.

Slamming her fist against the trunk of the nearest tree, she let her head drop, taking in great heaves of air. "Fine," she seethed. "The game goes on. Follow the rules if you please. You still won't win. I don't take bets I know I'll lose. You should have listened to your traitor friend and not gotten involved with me. Good luck vindicating these monsters with your influence wiped clean from their rotten heads." Snapping her fingers, the bag that had remained stapled to my side this whole time disappeared from my grasp. It fell into her outstretched hand. "Congratulations. You found my scattered garbage."

She stormed off into the uncertain darkness of the woods. As soon as she vanished from sight, those next to me began to flutter their eyes open, one by one. With Yuka's warnings still resounding in my head like sirens, I dropped to the ground as quickly as possible and pretended to awaken with them, just as I had done with Yuka's visitation back in the third period. If none of them really remembered who I was, then…

They wouldn't trust me—

The wouldn't trust each other—

Len would have no idea who I was—

Who was I, anyway?

When I lied to Mothy's face about breaking the rules, that was who I was. Yes. I grasped that thought and held on tight. That's who Mayu was.

"W-What happened?" Meiko's voice came first, tired, discombobulated. She sounded younger somehow and more afraid then the Meiko I knew ever dared to show. "My babies," she continued. "Where…?"

I stumbled to my feet and looked around at them, sleepy-eyed. All of them were frightened, like they had just woken up from a horrid nightmare. Meiko seemed to be searching the ground for something. Gakupo held a hand gently to his own neck. Miku, Rin, and Len all stared fixated on each other.

"What the hell?" Gakupo growled, patting down his lab coat and adjusting his glasses. Glasses? Wow. "This isn't what I remember at all."

"I don't remember anything," Miku said absently, at last tearing her eyes away from the twins. "Who are y—" She chocked on her own words when her eyes grazed Meiko, but Meiko herself didn't seem to know Miku at all.

I guess it was true. They really didn't know where we were and, worse still, who was out to kill us all.

Len still stared at Miku with a strange mixture of disbelief and fear. He stole glances at his sister, whose own disbelief was already replaced by a sort of predatorial calm. "This isn't possible. Somebody is trying to mess with us," Rin said definitively. She stepped forward and firmly grasped Miku's shoulder. Miku let out a small shriek. "Who are you? Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Miku replied with sad eyes, "but could you be… It's not possible. You look like my children."

"My babies? Has anyone seen them?" Meiko asked again in a trance. It was like she saw nothing at all, eyes glossed over.

"Shut up!" Miku shouted suddenly. "They're not your babies!" Meiko flinched at her harsh words and seemed to finally focus her senses to the situation.

"Have we all escaped from a sanitarium or something? You all are crazy!"" Gakupo said. Despite his grandiose, arrogant attitude, something in him shrunk away from Meiko, and he hid his face from her as much as possible.

"Hey, stop trying to fool us," Rin went on, still keeping hold of Miku.

"She'll stop if you tell us who put you all up to this," Len added in a low voice. Everything was happening too quickly. None of them were right at all. Even after we all regained our memories, they were not this aggressive toward each other. Even Len, who had always tried to avoid conflict, seemed indifferent to the interrogation of Miku. Even Len…

He noticed me staring at him. I quickly averted my gaze.

"I'm just as confused as you are," Miku defended herself. "It can't be, but… Rin? Len?" The forest clearing pattered off into silence. It seems they did know each other after all, some of them, at least. "W-Why are you all grown up?"

Rin tore her hand away in disgust. "Fine. Don't tell me," she spat.

"And who are you, exactly? You haven't said anything yet," Gakupo questioned, turning to me.

My throat went dry. What was I to say? "My name is Mayu," I replied shortly. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

"Ah!" Meiko gasped, eyes fixed on Gakupo. " _You!"_

"I don't know who you are. Shut up," Gakupo commanded.

"Evil," she seethed, undeterred by his rude comment. "You're evil."

"You're not so innocent yourself, and besides, _you_ are the one who ruined _my_ life," Gakupo retorted.

"So, you two know each other?" Len asked. "And we three know each other in a way. At least, _she_ is pretending to be our mother." He motioned toward Miku.

"That leaves you once again, blondie," Rin finished for her brother, setting her gaze on me. I wasn't sure if she forgot that she was blond herself or if she didn't care.

"You're right. You all don't know me," I said, "but I'm just as clueless about this situation as you all are." That wasn't far from the truth.

"And why exactly do you have an ax?" Len went on, cautiously taking measured steps toward me.

Words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them. Maybe lying wasn't such a difficult task when you do it so much. "I don't know. It was on the ground next to me when I came to. I figured I'd pick it up. I _did_ just wake up in a dark forest surrounded by strangers, you know."

"If we're all going to have to find our way out of this forest together, I think we should all decide who gets the ax," Len said, but nothing about his tone reflected goodhearted democracy. As he continued to come toward me, I was frozen with indecision. I mean, this was Len we were talking about. However, against my expectations, Len swiftly grabbed hold of the ax, and we were forced into a mini tug-of-war battle.

"Considering you all know each other," I reasoned, "and you all seem to have some grudges, I think it's the best decision for me to keep it safe for now." He didn't listen. Instead, with apathy covering every inch of his familiar face, he continued to pull the weapon toward him. "Please, Len," I said softly, soft enough so even he could barely hear it.

Alarmed by my words—or maybe it was the slight edge of pain in my eyes—he let go and retreated back, out of arm's reach. "Fine," he huffed, confused, face to the ground. "Fine."

"Hmph." Rin looked down upon her weak little brother. He mumbled an apology.

"Now that _that_ unpleasantness is over," Gakupo announced, "I think it's time we come to terms about where we are."

"And where are we, then?" Miku asked like a frightened lamb. Meiko had withdrawn herself to the edge of the clearing, evidently unwilling to be within a certain radius of Gakupo.

"It's quite obvious. We're dead," he said simply.

"Dead?" Rin scoffed.

"Yes, dead. You, the scared mouse, you say these are your children?" His glasses flashed at Rin and Len.

"I-I think so, but it's not possible. They were just children a few moments ago," Miku answered.

"Yes, well, you must have died when they were children, then," Gakupo explained. " _I_ at least know for certain _I_ am dead. I was just about to head off to my execution before I blacked out and woke up here. So, unless there's some time traveler breaking out convicts, I'm pretty certain that we've floated off into the next life. And her," he pointed a thumb back to the wandering Meiko, "she's dead, too. She died in these very woods three years ago. My men found her I'm not sure if she was killed here, however. It would seem someone dragged the body from somewhere else."

"We're… dead," Len repeated to himself, paling.

"Yes, dead as can be," Gakupo confirmed.

"So, that means we're in…" Rin trailed off.

"Hell, I guess. I can't imagine anywhere else I'd be," Gakupo said. "I mean, I'm with you people, aren't I?"

I didn't know if this was a good development or not, but there was only so much a person can worry about at one time. I mean, I still had no idea what happened in this period, and now I had to get these people to play nice long enough for us to find a doorway out of here. Miku kept crying tears of fear. Meiko could hardly function. Gakupo was an ultra douchebag (okay, that wasn't really new). Rin was even more sadistic than usual, and Len… Len was… Not like Len at all.

Who were these people, anyway?


	18. The Dead

Rin's words cut right through the unsettling silence that followed Gakupo's ramblings. She spoke with such conviction and repugnancy that there left little room for further discussion. "That's ridiculous," she said. "We're not dead, and you're a fool."

Meiko had yet to float back into the stratosphere and contented herself with squatting down on the grass and tearing it out with her bare hands like a child. Every once in a while, she would mumble something about her babies or her husband, but no one acknowledged her at all. Everyone else seemed to be taking sides. Miku with Gakupo on Team We Are Dead, and Rin and Len on Team We Are Alive. A small chasm of space separated the two teams, while I stood off on the outskirts, having not yet determined which opinion would get them to work together.

"Whether we're dead or alive or dreaming, we shouldn't stay here," I suggested to break the staring contest.

"Where would we go? What's the destination?" Miku asked pessimistically. "We're all dead, so there's no point."

"We are _alive,_ you imbeciles," Rin interjected. "You think _this_ is hell? We're just standing in the woods. They could have done much worse than this. Somebody dropped us off here, so—and I dislike having to agree with blondie, but—we have to find our way back to civilization. We have to move. Well, Len and I have to move. Please don't follow us."

"No, we should stay together," I argued. "We don't know what's in those woods. Whoever dropped us off could be out there, watching and waiting, and if we're dead, that's all the more reason for added protection. Strength in numbers. And, considering I have the only weapon, you all might want to consider staying near me."

"Why are you so adamant on staying together?" Rin pursued.

"I just told you my reasons," I replied, beginning to get really annoyed with everyone's defensiveness. We wasted time here. The dolls could have already been closing in. "We all need to find a way out, so we might as well do it as a group. Are we in agreement?"

"Works for me," Gakupo said nonchalantly. "You might have some trouble convincing that one over there, however." He nodded to Meiko, still hunched down on the ground.

"Meiko!" I called to her. She looked up with hazy eyes. "Do you want to see your babies again?" She nodded fervently. God, was this the same woman who could silence a courtroom with one daunting glance? "Come with us, then," I urged. She looked at Gakupo with distrust. "You don't have to stay near him." After a moment's thought, she stood up and sauntered over.

"And you all? Coming with?" I asked those who remained.

"I suppose so," Miku agreed, "but only if Rin and Len go as well."

"Don't base your decision on us, imposter," Rin shot but after a moment, added, "Fine, then. I concede."

"And you, Len?" I continued, voice shrinking down, nervous all of a sudden.

He seemed uncomfortable under my intensive gaze. "Of course. I-If my sister goes, I go."

Gakupo clapped twice, and Meiko grimaced. "Well, off we go, then!" he said. "Now, which way is the right way to go…?"

That was an excellent question. Reaching back into my memory I tried to place where the door that spat us out stood. I set my eyes on its presumed vanishing point and decided that it was likely that the way out was in the direction where the door faced. I had nothing else to go off of. "Maybe that way," I pointed North, as could be deduced by the moon's placement in the sky.

"And why that way?" Rin questioned.

"Do you have a better way?" I asked, forcing down the frustration with difficulty.

"No," she said off-handedly. "Fine. That way, then."

Rin, flourishing her simple, peasant dress in the moderate wind, took the lead, Len and then, slightly farther back, me at her heels. Gakupo came next, then Miku, and then Meiko at the back, shoulders scrunched up, trying to avoid contact with everyone. The woods grew thick with trees quickly, and it was difficult to see by the obstructed moonlight through the foliage. The ground was uneven, and I stumbled many times in my heeled boots. I brought this down on myself. I should have never worn heels in real life.

When Len caught up with Rin and fell into step with her, I couldn't help but overhear snippets of their conversation. In my defense, they were the only ones making any noise louder than a leaf's whisper, and they—well, Rin, at least—weren't exactly trying too hard to mask their exchange.

"She keeps staring at me," Len was saying.

"What? Who?"

He snuck a glance toward me. I stopped staring, but when he turned back around I resumed it again. "You know…" he said.

"Who cares? Maybe I would have a little more sympathy for you if you had been of any use back there. You did absolutely nothing of worth. From now on we must stand as a united front." Rin continued her lecture for a great deal longer as we made little progress through the underbrush. There had yet to be any sign of anything but nature. No paths, no cabins, no scratch marks on trees, no memories to retrace my steps by. We could be in an infinite loop, and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"I wonder why there isn't any animals," Gakupo commented aloud as he weaved in between trees in a crisscross pattern, amusing himself in any way possible.

"Yes, it is peculiar," Miku agreed. "Usually there would be the calls of nocturnal animals or at least some bugs."

"Of course, if we're dead, that could account for the lack of life," Gakupo said.

"I suppose you're right… I don't think my mind has quite caught up with it all yet. I have this sense of déjà vu. In a way, the concept of being dead sounds rather natural," Miku admitted.

Rin scoffed loudly.

"You may laugh now—" Gakupo shouted. However, the rest of his statement stopped halfway up his throat, interrupted by a small scream, a crunch, and a harsh snap. Brandishing my ax in the air, I hurried with the rest of us to Gakupo, crumpled down on the forest floor, clutching his leg in agonizing pain.

"What is this?" Len asked in disbelief. A bear trap had been laid hidden in the tall bushes, it would seem. Its gleaming, steel teeth had found a snack. Clamped up halfway around Gakupo's calf, it held on tight, immovable. Len's exclamation was most likely in reference to the dark gray dust pouring out of his wound rather than the cold crimson blood that usually occupied the vessels of any living person.

Gakupo cried out in disbelief and pain. The trap was firmly planted in the ground, and it was evident after a few tugs that it would be impossible to extract from the hard soil. The others stood around, uncertain of what emotion they should be feeling. Gakupo was a perfect stranger to most. Why should they particularly care what would happen to him? I looked around at their indecisive faces with fury. Come on, people! Don't you see a human being writhing in agony at your feet? Say something!

"We are going to have to cut it off," Meiko suggested after a moment.

"What? What?" Rin responded twice. Once for the cutting off of the leg and the other for Meiko, self-proclaimed Gakupo-abhorrer, for being the one to care at all.

"Right," I said. "Okay."

"Hey, guys," Rin continued. "I don't know about you all, but I'm not very well-versed in amputation."

"I'll do it," I replied. "I… was a nurse." No one could confirm or deny it, so they pattered off into silence as I knelt down and examined the lower leg. Without a word, I took off one of my shoes and then my long, black stocking, tying it tightly just below his knee as a makeshift tourniquet. In the meantime, Gakupo hissed and groaned, unable to formulate words to describe the feeling of ash spilling out of his shredded limb.

"I need someone to hold him down," I said calmly. Everyone seemed to take a step back at the same time, except for…

"I'll do it," Meiko volunteered.

"Can I ask why?" I said. It was entirely plausible that she was planning on making him suffer if she got too close. This wasn't the time for revenge, no matter how justified her anger was.

She looked down upon him with haunted eyes. "Because he knows where my babies are," she answered.

"Good enough for now," I mumbled, beckoning her forward. After I instructed her on what to do, she grabbed hold of his free leg with one arm and the thigh of the damaged leg with the other. "Make sure to hold still," I reminded Gakupo, although it wasn't clear if he could hear me or not. "Considering you seem to be made of dust, this should go more easily than an actually amputation."

I positioned the ax slightly above the jaws of the bear trap, arm resting on the blunt end, after tearing the fabric around the lacerations. The goal was to slam it down and break the bone in one swoop. There certainly seemed to be a bone, but the properties of these bodies seemed to evolve as quickly as the labyrinth has. Maybe it was made of something like calcified dust. It shouldn't require much sawing. Gakupo was pale, covered in cold sweat. I was reminded of the night he died in our abandoned tea garden in the city of Toragay. Without realizing it, I whispered under my breath, "Don't worry, Gakupo. I'll save you this time." Luckily, no one seemed to notice that I said anything at all. In order to prevent prolonging the procedure, with no count to three or warning at all, I concentrated all my strength into swinging the ax down on its destination.

More crunching. More howls of pain. I was right. The bone seemed to break without much resistance. One more swing and we were golden.

More pain. Dust covered my hands, and in some ways, it was more terrifying than blood. Pushing the bear trap out of the way, the leg separated from its counterpart, and all that was left was a stub.

"Done," I announced. "Someone find a big stick." No one moved. "Please?"

Miku bowed out to find the stick. At least, I hoped that was why she was leaving. I, meanwhile, worked to catch my breath and slipped off my other sock for symmetrical purposes, squeezing my bare feet back into the heeled boots. Gakupo stared dazedly up at the snippets of sky. The first words that came out of his mouth were: "The moon hasn't moved an inch."

"I suppose we can all agree that we're dead, then?" I proposed, gesturing toward the ash-caked ground.

Rin pressed her lips together into a thin line, more frustrated than perturbed at the scene that laid before her. However, Len, who still stood beside her, looked very perturbed indeed. He avoided looking at the leg or anyone at all. "Dead…" he trailed off.

Unable to approach him as I would have done with his memories intact, I was forced to remain squatted down by the heaving Gakupo, fists clenched, eyes to the ground. Miku came back in a few minutes with—lo and behold—a big stick in her arms. "Okay," I said. "Gakupo, you're going to have to stand now."

"One more moment, please," he said.

I waited about ten seconds. "I'm going to help you up now, and you're going to use this stick to walk. You shouldn't bleed to death, since you have no blood to begin with, but that tourniquet should keep you from, well, _deflating._ " Without the help of anyone else, I clutched his arm and brought him to his feet (his _foot,_ really). He took the stick and tested it out a moment. The pain seemed to be subsiding. Physiology hardly worked the same way here, did it?

"I think I can go on, now," Gakupo said at last.

Meiko wasted no time. "Where are my babies?" she asked desperately, breaching his personal space in an instant.

"I don't know where your babies are," he replied gently enough. At least there was some gratitude in him for her aid.

"You must know," she continued. "I heard you say that your men found me dead in the woods. That means you should have found my babies as well. They were with me the whole time."

"I didn't find any babies!" he repeated.

"Please! You _must_ know!"

"If I had found your babies, I would have taken them for myself!" he broke. The gratitude gauge had run dry. Meiko continued to press in on him. "Go away!" Gakupo swung his stick down at her knees, knocking her to the ground.

Meiko began to cry. She cradled her stomach as if she were still pregnant. "My babies," she whimpered. "Where are you…?"

"We should move on," Rin suggested coldly. "Let's go."

"Wait a moment," I said. "Just a few minutes. Let me talk to her."

"You're running low on favors, blondie," Rin seethed but waited anyway. Len waited, too, obediently at her side.

Lowering myself to the dirt, I spoke to Meiko softly, out of earshot of the others. "We have to go now."

"Do you know where my babies are? Do you know what's going on?" Meiko whispered back.

"I… don't. I'm sorry."

"Those two." She looked at Rin and Len. "They look like them. My babies. They were twins, too, with blond hair, but they can't be mine. Their the children of the women with the cyan hair. I can tell by the way she looks at them. They're hers, aren't they?"

"I think so," I replied.

"I miss them so much. My babies and my husband. If we're dead, then my husband should be here, too. Why isn't he here? If this is hell, he must be here, too."

"Tell me about your husband," I urged.

"He was an evil man… Because I loved him, I have been tainted as well. That is why I'm in hell. Why isn't he here, then? I miss him so much. What will he do when he finds out I lost our babies?"

"I promise we'll get out of here, Meiko," I said.

"You know more than you're letting on," she said suddenly. "This is the second time you called me Meiko, and I haven't told anyone my name here at all. I'm not stupid. You also said that you wouldn't let Gakupo die again. He never said his name either, and that implies that you let him die once. You know us, don't you? You know everything. Where are my babies?"

"Calm down, Meiko. I don't where your babies are." With wild eyes and the strength of a raging black bear, Meiko pounced on me. There was a short struggle, a blur of limbs, until Meiko seized the ax from my clutched hands and bounded right off into the forest. By the time I got up, she had already disappeared into the vague darkness of the trees. "Wait! Come back!" I called. It was too late.

"What were you thinking, letting her run away with our weapon?" Rin shouted indignantly.

"What were you all thinking, just standing there and watching it happen. None of you cared enough to run after her either!" I refuted before I could stop myself. No, I shouldn't have entertained an argument. We had to work together. "Damn it. She's going to get herself killed."

"I'm more worried about us at this point," Rin said. "I suppose we have to go in the direction she ran off to. We've got to get the ax back."

"We might as well head that direction," Len added weakly. Rin nodded in approval of the backup.

"Alright, fine," I conceded. "Let's go find her."

All nine of our legs set out in a huff of frustration, heavy silence once again settling over our heads like storm clouds brewing in the artificial sky.


	19. The Loss

We found the ax about half a mile away, handle-deep in a pile of ashes that was spread out in the shape of a sprawled human being. I knelt down and touched the ash lightly, fingers trembling until they clenched together into a fist to keep the tears from spilling out. Hiding my face from the others, who stood watching my actions curiously, I made sure to keep the ax away from their desperate grasps and stood up.

"Meiko is dead," I said, refusing to look away from her remains. They swirled about in the subtle wind like sand in a desert. Soon the particles would be everywhere and nowhere at once. It mattered little. This wasn't her real body anyway. Still, my heart caved.

"We don't know that for sure," Len replied tentatively.

"Yes, we do. I don't really feel like arguing about it, either. We need to keep walking," I said flatly.

"If she's dead," Gakupo interjected, "what killed her?"

"Do you have to assume she was killed?" Rin scoffed, but her usual belligerent attitude was off-set by a tinge of distress in her voice.

"She was killed," I confirmed. Before they could assail me with questions of how I knew that, I half-heartedly added, "There are things in the woods here with us. I saw them while we were walking. I didn't tell you all because you wouldn't have believed me, or it would make you worry too much. I also couldn't be sure if it was my imagination, but now this confirms it. There are things hunting us here. _This_ is the real hell."

"You say you saw _things,_ " Miku spoke up. "What did they look like?"

"People," I answered, "only paler, with dead stares and awkward movements. Two women and a man. There may be more. Everyone should stay on high alert from now on, and _no straying from the group._ "

"I want you to know that I don't believe you," Rin said.

"I don't care if you do or not. Let's get going before they show up again."

"Well, what are you waiting for then, blondie? You have the ax, so lead the way!" Rin rebuked.

"R-Right." I looked down at the ashes. _I'm sorry, Meiko. I'm so sorry._

"Any day now!"

"If you're going to screech, do it outside a ten-foot radius of me, if you please," Gakupo shot and began hobbling ahead at an agonizing pace. There were already complaints made at the speed we were going because of his injury, but what was there to do? The death of Meiko had stricken fear into their hearts. Stick together, and you will be fine. I hoped they clung to my words like their lives depended on it.

We ventured onward in the same direction as before, lost and stumbling, unsure of what we were looking for. Shelter… Escape… We were all dead, so what did it matter? At least, that must be what they all were thinking. Meanwhile, the thoughts running through my mind were…

Find the door. Protect the others. Solve the mystery. Kill Mothy.

Once, a very long time ago, Yuka and I went hiking through the forest that surrounded the sleepy village of Enobizaka. We got hopelessly lost alarmingly quickly. I hated every second of it. We eventually got back by following a stream that we deduced was the same one that flowed right along the outskirts of town. It took three hours, but we were finally out. I heard no rushing water here. There wasn't a Yuka at my side, either.

I wondered where she had gone after the fire. Where was there to hide in a place like this? Maybe she found her own black space to make her own kingdoms and live there for the rest of eternity. The only down-side was that she would be alone, much like I was, much like I was going to be if I let these people die again.

"You're always _so_ deep in thought," Rin commented, springing into my vision with a scrunched-up smile.

"I was just thinking about how I could kill a witch. Any ideas?" I replied lightly.

Instead of answering in her usual, baleful tone, she seemed very uncomfortable all of a sudden and fell back without another word. Whatever. At this point, whatever.

When I spotted a color other than the dark brown and dull green of the forest, I first thought that it was a fallen friend about to pulverize us all into ground dust, but before I went as far as charging in with my ax to the sky, I realized that white color was not the skin of a doll but the wall of a building. After hours, a building.

"Finally!" Miku shouted joyously. A resurgence of energy sparked us into a run toward the wall. Elbows and knees colliding with trees and underbrush, we desperately made it to the manmade structure. It was tall, with little windows only on the third floor and upwards. Other than that, there were no distinguishing details along the plaster.

"You've got to be kidding me," Gakupo huffed as he approached, the last one here. "I know where we are."

"For once, he's useful," Rin mumbled.

"I heard that, little girl," he shot back. "Show some respect for the most glorious building you will ever step foot in. It's my laboratory."

"You're telling me _you're_ a scientist?"

"A good one, too," he said. "Come on, the entrance is around here."

We let him take the lead, hobbling with newly found vigor around the corner and to the apparent front doors, which stood flatly along another remarkably unremarkable white wall. "Talk about shady," Rin said.

"You know what? I'm getting really tired of all your commentary," Gakupo snapped at her. "Shut up."

Before Rin could get angry, Miku stepped forward instead, hands clenching the hem of her skirt. "Don't talk to my daughter that way."

"Don't speak for me! I told you that you're not our mother!" Rin responded.

"We know we're dead now," Miku said. "I know you and Len are my children."

Len shifted nervously on the balls of his feet and avoided both of their gazes.

"You don't know anything, do you? Just pretend we don't exist." With that, Rin pushed through the front doors herself before anyone could stop her. In painful silence, we followed.

Gakupo's laboratory turned out to be a sort of warehouse converted into several large rooms with various equipment I couldn't even attempt to comprehend. There seemed to be another floor, as well, most likely with a similar layout. The room we first stepped into, along with all the others I was able to see, had concrete flooring and, after Gakupo flipped a few switches, a great number of gas lamps lining the high ceiling and walls. They provided enough illumination as too see the entire room from corner to corner, and it was the first time in a long time that I was surrounded by so much light.

"I never thought I would see this place again," Gakupo said in wonderment. Despite his struggled steps, pain-ridden body, and entire disheveled appearance, he looked to me perfectly at peace in this room full of metal tables and strange devices. Meanwhile, the others were unimpressed.

"We should split up and look for weapons," Rin suggested quickly and then, under her breath, "and get away from each other for a little while."

"Fine. Do as you please," Gakupo dismissed, hobbling over to a steel desk and sitting down. He observed his lab a moment, tapping on the desk affectionately.

"I'll search this room, then, while you rest," I said.

"Alright Nurse Mayu. I won't overexert myself, then," Gakupo replied playfully.

Rin spared no time in dragging Len out by the arm, and after a moment of staring longingly after them, Miku departed as well. Every once in a while, I would hear footsteps or the echo of objects being moved around, but other than that, their presences were unfelt.

In silent observation, I went about the room, searching for pointy objects or various tools of torture that seemed to fit this place's vibe. Mostly, the drawers were filled with either papers or glassware. Speaking of glass, in the center of the room stood a giant encasement of glass, filled to the top with some kind of murky fluid. It seemed to be the centerpiece of the room, and I did not want to find out what it was used for.

"Thank you for lopping off my leg," Gakupo said after about ten minutes of searching. He still sat with his makeshift cane between his legs, watching me contently.

"Nothing you need to thank me for," I replied, continuing to rummage through the various compartments. "Anyone could have done it."

"Yes, I suppose anyone could… Though I doubt anyone _would_ have, except Meiko. The fool…"

"How did you know Meiko?" I asked nonchalantly, trying not to betray my grave interest in the matter. He didn't say anything at first. "She was Rin and Len's biological mother, wasn't she?" I prodded.

"Yes," he answered. "How do you know that?"

"The real question is how _you_ know that." I retorted.

"Hm." Gakupo did not seem excited about admitting however it was that he was involved, but after a moment, he continued, "I was performing experiments on pregnant women who were with twins. I saved Meiko from her life on the run and placed her in the facility. After she gave birth, she took the babies and escaped. She didn't last the night. My men found her dead by morning."

"And the babies?"

"Never knew what happened to them until now. I guess Cyan Mouse Girl stole them and raised them as her own. Now the whole big, happy family is reunited in hell. Fitting." His fingers traced his mangled leg gingerly. "I suppose I had this coming. Irredeemable, the acts I committed."

"Irredeemable is a bit much," I said. "You must have shown compassion to _somebody._ "

"My wife, I suppose," he thought aloud, "but in the end, she turned me over to the authorities out of spite."

"Your wife… is Luka, isn't she?"

He started at the name, standing up on his one good leg all of a sudden with alarming eyes. "How do you know her name?"

"There's a lot of things that you don't know about our situation," I explained, "but trust me when I say that I'm trying to save you guys. Please, before I tell you why I know Luka, can you tell me who Gumi is? Do you know her? I need to know what sins both of them committed here."

"Gumi and Luka." Gakupo sank back down in his seat, realizing that even if I was a threat, there was nothing his dilapidated body could do to defeat me. The confusion must have been overwhelming, just as it had overwhelmed me after being dropped down here with all my memories rushing in without repose. Quickly, Gakupo described, "Gumi and I were both accomplices to the deeds done in this lab. Even when she questioned our work, she would never stop giving her all, even if that meant the deprecation of others. Luka—well—she was jealous of all the time I spent in the lab and away from her. She became enraged one night and ended up killing Gumi. Then, she revealed my cruel experiments to the masses, and I was arrested. She even showed them where we buried Meiko's corpse."

"What sort of experiments were you doing?" I finally asked, unable now to ignore the ominous nature of his words.

He did not reply.

"Gakupo, do you know who Mothy is?"

His eyes lit up in recognition and horror. He opened his mouth to speak, but a piercing scream wracked the air. "They're here!" Rin was yelling. "Get over here!"

I dropped the beakers I was holding and sent them crashing to the floor. Picking up the ax I had left on the table, I sprinted the source of the screaming, Gakupo moving as fast as he could behind me. Soon enough, all of us were gathered in one of the adjacent laboratories, one surrounded by shelves of glass vials. Diagrams of the human body scattered the floor, and in the center of it all was Rin and Len and the crooked figures of Luka and Gumi. Rin covered her brother with outstretched arms. Len, meanwhile, in the midst of his shock, was trying to switch their positions so that Rin would be out of reach of the foreign monsters.

"Hey!" I shouted at Gumi and Luka. They kept staring at Rin and Len, not yet making their move.

"Luka! Gumi!" Gakupo called, finally entering the scene.

Only Luka looked over, and then she began making her way toward him instead—first at a slow walk, and then gaining speed. She was across the room in an instant it would seem, and I moved to slice her with my ax. Raising it high in the air, I swung down, but, to my utter horror, Luka caught the ax by its handle and shoved it to the ground like she was taking it from a toddler. Panicked now, I tried to jump on top of her and wrestle her to the ground, but once again, she swatted me away and sent me crashing the floor with ease. Just like the glass beaker, I shattered as I watched Luka smoothly glide over to Gakupo, who had lost his balance and toppled to the ground, and place a single, slender hand on his arm. Just as I had seen done numerous times before, the color drained from his face. Then the everything drained from his face. Gakupo decomposed right before my eyes into a heap of ash and screams. Luka seemed satisfied. She walked out of the room and disappeared.

However, it wasn't over yet. With loss pounded against my chest, I forced myself to my feet and turned back toward Rin, Len, and Gumi, but Gumi was already gone as well. Now Rin had fallen to her knees, grasping her stomach, which spilled dust to the floor like sand through the funnel of an hourglass. Len was clasping her shoulders, yelling, "No! No, please! Rin!"

Miku, silent and frozen in the corner until now, rushed over as well. All the energy left my body. Rin, too, was bound to die at any moment, and not die in the superficial way living people do, but in the ultimate Death. An eternity condemned to isolation and whatever else the devils did to entertain themselves. I floated over in a daze but did not feel like I had the right to mourn. I had failed.

"I can't do anything without you!" Len yelled. Her legs were going now, crumbling.

At last, Rin managed to say, "Yes, you can. You have to, Len. For both of us, do whatever you can to find a way out of this place." Miku covered her face with her hands, sobs wracking her body. To my surprise, Rin added, "You, too, Mother. You, too." Then, just as the last of consciousness escaped her, she turned to me. "You protect him. Whoever you are."

Once there was his sister, and then there was nothing but ash in his arms.


	20. The Motivation

And then there were three.

How many were we at the beginning? So many, some may say too many to keep track of. Where did I go wrong? There was no single instance that came to mind, but I knew there must have been something. Maybe it was making the bet to begin with, prolonging their agony. Maybe it was falling in love, or maybe it was when I befriended Yuka when we were children in a small village under Queen Linda's reign. Maybe it was just me. If it had been anyone else in my position, would they have lost so many? Would they feel the utter defeat that now pulled my body to the ground like ropes attached to every limb, being ushered this way and that by feelings of worthlessness and the prospect of spending the rest of eternity alone?

"We have to keep moving," I said suddenly. Even to me, the incompetent one, it sounded heartless after what had just occurred, but someone needed to say it. Miku and Len, clawing at the ashes that Rin left us as if they could mold her back together like a snowman, certainly would not. Someone needed to display some desire of living, even if that desire was a lie. "They'll be coming back soon," I contended.

"Wh-What's the point?" Len replied. He had stopped crying and now merely sat there on the laboratory floor, rooted there with no intention of getting up ever again. Miku fell into a similar position, unresolved feelings about her daughter and son rendering her speechless.

"We have to live."

"We're dead." His voice cracked. He looked up at me like a lost child.

"We still," I began and then decided to rephrase. "We know that whatever happened to Gakupo, Meiko, and Rin is not good. So—So we…" I couldn't seem to convey my logic properly and made it worse in the process. "Okay. You guys just rest there for a little while. I'm going to look around this place a moment. Do what we came here to do."

What I was really doing was looking for the door out of here—the real door, that marked the end of this sadistic game, if it existed. My eyes glazed over everything that wasn't a contender, so I hardly remembered what I saw through the rest of the first floor and second. Only disappointment. I didn't expect to find it, and I was right. As I made my way back down the creaking staircase, I became acutely aware of the struggle of moving. My vision became muggy, like a perpetual fog had descended upon me. Somewhere, way down inside me, something ugly began to grow restless. It didn't dare float to the surface of my being quite yet, but it watched patiently, waiting for the proper moment to take over.

Len and Miku were right where I had left them, in a pool of self-pity and fear. We _had_ to keep moving. Staying wasn't an option. This would have been so much more convenient if they could remember everything. "We're going, now," I announced. They acted as if they didn't hear me. "We're leaving," I repeated. Nothing. Alright, then. If they were going to play that game…

I went over and grabbed Miku by the arm, dragging her to her own wobbly feet. As soon as I made a move to do the same to Len, he shuffled slightly away in repulsion. I would be lying if I said that didn't send cracks through my already dilapidated heart. "We have to go," I asserted to him. He refused to meet my eyes. "Don't you understand?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you," he shot. "You had the ax. You said you could protect us with it, and you failed. You're untrustworthy. Moth—Miku, you shouldn't go with her either."

"And what noble act are you going to be doing here?" I asked. "You're just going to sit here and die? You're right. That's much better than going with an untrustworthy person like me and actually standing a chance of getting out of here. You say you can't do anything without your sister? That's an excuse. You hate yourself? You think you're weak and useless? Then maybe actually _try_ to do something! Your sister said to live for the both of you, didn't she? You want to betray the last thing your sister asked of you? And she told _me_ to protect _you,_ so don't act like it's none of my business. Get off your ass!"

Len stood up suddenly in frustration. I had never seen him so furious before, but I didn't let it show on my face. After a moment, his shoulders sagged, and he nodded. "Fine," he conceded, "but only for Rin."

"Whatever works," I said, relieved. "Miku, you coming?"

"I suppose I have to," she replied.

With the solemnity of a funeral procession, we escaped this warehouse of death and observed the path laid before us. It was cobblestone, weathered, and ended abruptly only fifty feet from the entrance of the laboratory. Carefully, we made our way down to where it tapered off back into the uncharted dirt of the forest. A particularly old tree stood right at the edge, and engraved in it was a scratchy number _7_ and an arrow pointing into the darkness. "I guess there only one way to go, then," I said.

"Can we really trust this?" Len asked.

"We're going to have to," I answered. "Wandering around aimlessly won't get us anywhere."

There was no room left to argue, so we began walking in the direction of the arrow. The moon remained refused to budge from its single position in the sky. Night was eternal here. I had the feeling that our story was soon to come to its final curtain close. It thrilled and terrified me that our journey was nearly over. However, despite the narrative of this Original period piecing itself together in my mind, there were still too many mysteries to go unheeded.

Before Gakupo died, he had responded to the name Mothy with familiarity. He was about to tell me something, wasn't he?

"Have either of you ever heard of the Seven Deadly Sins?" I said suddenly.

"No," Miku replied easily.

There was no response from Len, so I looked over my shoulder to peer at him. "Len?"

"No," he answered belatedly. I could differentiate his lying voice from his others by now, not that he was ever a good liar.

"What about Mothy? Ever hear of Mothy?" I continued.

"No," Len asserted. "Why do you ask, anyway?"

"No reason. They're just meaningless names and phrases, apparently."

"You must have had some reason—"

"Oh, my God," Miku interrupted. "Look! Len, it's our house!"

Squinting through the darkness ahead of us, I could just make out the outline of a small cottage. While Miku grew ecstatic, Len grew rigid. Looks like we found our next checkpoint. This game was beginning to become repetitive, but it was near done anyhow. "Miku, you lived here with Rin and Len?"

"Yes, and my husband, Kaito. We were so happy… I don't know what could have happened for me to die. Was it disease, Len?" she asked her son.

He said nothing but "Let's just get going."

The cottage, up close, was adorable, which in and of itself made it seem out of place in this world of endless nighttime and murder. Its roof was properly thatched, flowerboxes framed the bottoms of each window, and the front door was painted a sky blue. Miku was the first to the door, ripping it open as if Kaito would be standing in the kitchen waiting. Maybe she really did expect that, because as soon as Len and I caught up, she was on the sitting room floor, hands over her face, crying into the vacant house.

"You should comfort her," I told Len.

"I don't think I'm the right person to do that," he replied.

"You're very well the only person," I shot back and then went to explore the place before I could become emotional again.

The investigation wouldn't need to take long. All that the cottage offered was two bedrooms and the front room, which consisted of the kitchen and the parlor where Miku and Len currently sat with varying degrees of awkwardness and mourning. The kitchen didn't even yield a knife for a weapon, and so I moved onto the bedrooms. Miku and Kaito's held nothing of importance. Rin and Len's, which seemed to be occupied by children, was mostly empty itself, save for a bright white card lying on a sort-of desk. I recognized the card's shape and material instantly and picked it up. A black number _8_ rested on its bottom face. Memories of Life came flooding back, and I resisted the urge to join the crying party outside. Did Mothy leave this? Or…

Yuka was the one who always left the notes.

No, I shouldn't have elevated my expectations so high. If she knew what was good for her, she should be far away in other dimensions by now, far away from Mothy and us.

"Hey!"

There were muffled footsteps and the slamming of a door.

I dropped the note and rushed out into the sitting room, where I was met with emptiness. Then I saw the silhouettes of Miku and Len through the cottage window. Rushing outside, I shouted, "What's going on?"

"She ran out here after seeing _them_ through the glass," Len explained quickly, pointing to the edge of the small clearing, where the figures of Kaito and Rin—no more than ten years of age, it would seem—planted themselves like statues amidst the motley wildflowers.

Miku stood a few feet ahead of us and exclaimed, "There they are! _There_ they are!"

"Miku, that is not them." I loathed how hard it was to dredge up the words. I was tired, so tired of fighting for these people to stop making horrible mistakes. However, I was tired of the faces disappearing from my side even more. So, I persisted. "They're fakes. They're nothing. Illusions conjured up to drag you down."

"How do you know?" she replied, not tearing her eyes away from her husband and daughter, both smiling, neither blinking.

"You're only believing what you want to believe," Len accused. "That's not Rin, and if you would look closely, it's obvious." The little Rin frowned at him, but Len did not flinch. He did, however, look agonized, watching her likeness paraded about. To my surprise, he went on, "They want to take you to hell. Even if you go there, you won't be with them."

"How do you know?" Miku repeated, turning back to us in anguish.

At the same time, Len and I both blurted out, "It's Mothy."

"W-Who?"

"She's been manipulating this whole situation!" I continued.

"She's a witch," Len added.

"How do you know that?" I asked him.

"How do _you_ know that?" he retorted.

"Enough," Miku said softly. Before I could speak again, she halted me. "We're no match against them anyway. I'm tired of running away from what I did."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"I stole the apples… That woman named Meiko, I stole them from her."

"Apples?" Len asked.

"Yes. You and your sister. However I died, I probably deserved it," she said, turning back toward Kaito and Rin at the edge of the clearing.

"No, you didn't," Len mumbled, fists shaking at his sides.

"I'm too tired to keep going with you two. Someone as unmotivated as me to live would only drag you down. Len, if there is a better place than this, I do hope you find it."

"Mother!" Len shouted, but she was already rushing into Kaito's extended arms. He held her with a small smile on his face and in an instant, her ashes were circulating the faint wind. Kaito took ahold of Rin's little hand, and together they walked back off into the forest.

Len reached the spot where his mother once stood moments too late. Shaking my head, I squatted down a moment and buried my face in my hands, trying to comprehend and accept what had just occurred. What was I doing? _What_ was I doing? My self-glorifying exodus from hell into the promised land became rubble at my feet in mere hours. Mission failure. What was the point?

Mothy was laughing somewhere. I was sure of it. I could hear it, if I concentrated hard enough.

"Two people who are now gone have told me to find a way out of here," Len said suddenly. I didn't know when he had approached me, but now he peered down from above with an outstretched hand. "Are you coming, Mayu?"

I looked down at my feet a moment. Of course. The mission hadn't failed yet. If I had Len, it would all be okay. Nothing could make up for our losses, but with Len, I could face eternity anywhere. Taking his hand, I allowed him to help me up.


	21. The Heart

I ran my fingers along another number _7,_ etched into an aged tree on the outskirts of the small meadow where the cottage stood in silence. My eyes had gotten so used to the dark that I could now make out shapes from over fifteen feet away. A small footpath of packed dirt weaved into the forest, where my vision ceased to extend. Another arrow pointed directly to it.

"We're close. I can feel it," I said.

"I hope you're right," Len replied. "I don't remember this path here from my childhood."

"Mothy must have created it, just like how she created all of this." I started down the path at a quick pace, and Len kept close behind.

"How do you know Mothy, anyway?" he asked.

"I could ask the same to you," I said.

"You still don't trust me?"

"No, but I have no doubt that my story is longer and more complex than yours." In almost no time, the path became obscured by branches and underbrush spilling into our way. My legs got scratched up, flecks of dust falling on the ground behind me. I didn't feel a thing. Only that violent thing writhing about within me, trying to break free but knowing that the object of its fury was not before it quite yet.

Len constructed his words carefully before he spoke. "When Rin and I were kids, we—when our father and mother died, my mother left this stone."

"She gave it to you?" I pressed.

"Well, no. She burned to death, and in the ashes, this stone was there. It was a form of… magic."

"I see."

"You're not questioning that? I just said that it was a magic stone from the cremated remains of my mother."

"Len, I'm not going to worry about the logistics. If I threw a fit every time a magic stone appears, I wouldn't be able to get anything done. I just want to know how Mothy came into play."

"W-Well, Rin and I did some research into it, and we found out it was something called an Original Sin. Our mother's sin… we didn't know what it was, but it was bad. So, Rin had the idea of taking a rock and smashing it to pieces."

The trees were growing thicker. I could no longer see the moon looming above our heads. We had to feel around in the dark for some kind idea of where we were going. "You destroyed it?"

"I thought we could have," Len explained with great difficulty as we fumbled about. All of a sudden, he crashed into me from behind. "Sorry! Um, we thought it would destroy it, but we ended up merely dividing it into seven different pieces."

"Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, and Greed," I recited.

"Yes. The Seven Deadly Sins, they were called, evidently. We didn't want anything to do with them, so we cast them out. Just a short time later, a woman arrived on our doorstep. She's the one who explained to us what the Sins were and demanded to know where we had scattered them. Her name was Mothy."

"Did you tell her?" I pursued. Len fell silent a moment, and the only noise came from our own labored footsteps. At last, we managed to push through a line of bushes and were under the moonlight again. However, we were immediately faced with a new problem. In front of us was a cliff face maybe 15 feet high, and on it was another scrawled number _7_ with an arrow pointing up. "You're joking."

"I think we'll be able to climb it if one of us hoists the other up," Len suggested.

Despite our combined levels of shortness, he was probably right. "Alright. Let's do it, then."

With a great deal of awkwardness, I managed to just barely reach the top by Len placing his hands on the ground and heaving me up. I was reminded vaguely of when he helped me get the doll of Miki down from the hook during the first leg of our journey through the labyrinth, but of course, I kept that to myself. Focusing all my strength into my arms, I pulled myself up from hanging on the edge to fully on top and rested a moment on the soft grass. Then, I peered off the ledge and held my hand out for Len. He ran and jumped as high as he could, latching onto my hand, and dangled there. It took two attempts to swing him onto the solid ground with me. Once we had both safely made it, we took a moment to catch our breath, lying down there and staring up at the fake sky.

Len was looking at me. "What is it?" I asked, the adrenaline finally running out of my system.

"Nothing," he replied quickly, turning away. After a moment, he stood up, somewhat panicked.

I pul myself to my feet as well. "What?"

"We know each other, don't we?" he said, pacing around the patch of grass and fidgeting nervously. "That must be it. There is no other explanation. Do we know each other?"

"Yes, we know each other," I answered quietly, heart pumping quickly in excitement. Maybe he was remembering.

"And we were—we were friends? Did you know Rin as well?"

"We were friends, yeah, and I knew Rin."

My answers didn't seem to satiate his panic. "W-Well, how long did we know each other? When did we meet? How old were we?"

"C-Calm down. These questions are difficult to answer," I said.

His voice fluctuated like he was about to cry. "No. No, they aren't. They're really normal questions. Boring, normal questions."

"Why are you freaking out?" I asked, trying to get him to cool down. It hurt too much to see him like this. It reminded me of how he sometimes was in the sixth period, when he got so confused he couldn't tell what was reality. I knew now that it must have been the timelines messing with his head, and it was doing the same thing now.

"I don't know," Len said. "I can't remember. I've forgotten something that's really important. I don't know what it is, though."

Gently, I approached him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "It's alright. We're almost out, and then you'll remember."

"W-Why are you hugging me?" Len asked.

"Because I know you," I replied, keeping him close.

"I don't know you." His own arms rose up and snaked around my back. After a moment, he added, "My chest hurts."

A few minutes passed until I pulled away out of necessity. "We have to go now. We're almost there," I said.

"Right," Len agreed quietly, shrinking in on himself suddenly and turning crimson red. "S-Sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"Don't worry," I waved him off simply. "Let's go."

Where the patch of grass ended, the woods suddenly sprang up again. Another marker led us forward, though there was no longer any kind of physical pathway to follow. We traveled in silence, my pulse quickening the closer we treaded to the finish line. The exit out of this labyrinth. Victory. The wind had ceased howling and the farther we walked, the more insincere the trees and underbrush seemed compared to real life. Though we may never go back to "reality," I was sure that if there were trees in the Better Place, they would be look and feel exactly right. The moon would move in the Better Place. No one would try to torture us.

"How—How do you know Mothy?" Len asked after we had been walking for about a mile, urged on by the occasional marker letting us know we were going in the right direction.

"She hurt a lot of people I knew and cared about," I answered gingerly. "I confronted her about it, and now I'm here."

"The people who you knew and cared about, were they… all of us?" Quickly, he elaborated, "Miku, Meiko, Gakupo, Rin?"

"Yes. A few others, too."

"How did she hurt us?"

"She made you do things you didn't want to do."

"Why?"

"Because…" I thought about it a moment. "Because she wants to be entertained for as long as possible. Um, I asked you a question a while back that you didn't have a chance to answer. I was wondering if you told Mothy where the Sins were."

"Yes," he replied shamefully. "We did. She put them into some random objects. A doll, a gemstone…"

"I see. Okay. Thank you for answering my questions."

"It's no big deal. I just want to get out of here."

"Oh! I do have one more, actually. How exactly did your father and mother die?" I asked.

Len kept his mouth clamped shut, all of a sudden taking a major interest in everything not in my direction. After about a minute of fake contemplation and stalling, he suddenly snapped his head forward and pointed off in front of us. "Is that it?" he exclaimed.

I followed his pointing all the way to a small, pure white rectangle amid the foliage. Upon closer inspection, it was most definitely a door. A door in the middle of the woods pressed up against nothing. A door with a golden handle and small, square indentations along its front. A door. The exit.

A smile stretched across my face in an instant. "That's it, Len! That's it! Come on!" With the small reservoir of energy I still had stored up within me, I began to run, Len close behind. The implications of this miniscule piece of wood in this grand forest of wood made my smile grow wider and wider. This wasn't just the end of the labyrinth. This was the end of everything. The End. The final steps in a journey that had taken seven lifetimes.

A blink. A pale figure had appeared in front of the door. My heart, soaring above the sky, came crashing back down, down, down. A pale figure in a black dress. Long, golden hair. Mothy. She was smiling. I slowly came to a halt, confusion and fear all of sudden taking over. All of a sudden not feeling the presence of Len behind me, I turned around.

The look on Len's face: surprise. Limbs clasping onto limbs. Everyone—Kaito, Miku, Rin, Gumi, Luka, Meiko, Gakupo—was there. Everyone, yet I knew that it was truly only one person doing this, had hooked their arms around Len—his legs, his arms, his stomach. All the dolls, contacting him. Surprise. Their eyes, however, were locked with mine. Mothy's eyes were locked with mine.

And then they were gone. Well, Len was still there, and of course, he collapsed to the ground, his fingertips disintegrating into dust, falling to the ground like sand running out of an hourglass. In a voice I didn't know I possessed, I let out a guttural scream. _"Len!"_ Rushing to his side, I lowered him to the ground gently. I felt like gagging, but it seemed like this body didn't have that function. I felt like self-destructing, but Mothy didn't install that one either.

Len finally understood what was happening to him and seemed to calm down considerably. I, on the other hand, was crying and shouting incoherently, clutching his shoulders like that could stop the disease from crawling up his limbs. "W-Why are you crying?" he asked.

"Because I know you," I replied. "Don't leave me, Len. Don't leave me alone for all eternity. Please. _Please!"_

"I have to tell you," Len went on. "Rin and I—we killed them. That's how our parents died. It was us. Wherever I'm going, I deserve it, okay? It's alright. Please stop crying." I refused, the clammy feeling of loneliness colliding hard with the hot sensation of guilt, causing my body to wrack with sobs. Wherever he was going, he would be agony. All of my friends, in agony. All my fault. I couldn't save anyone. "Hey," he went on. I grew quiet, daring to look him in the eyes as he spoke. His torso was almost completely dust now. It was almost over. "Can you tell me, when you knew me, was I… a good person?"

I nodded vigorously. "Yes," I managed. "The best." Before he could completely vanish, I skimmed one last kiss, and then there was nothing on the ground before me except ash.

That ugly thing inside me, that raging thing, that writhing atrocity burrowed its way to the very top. Standing up slowly, wiping dust off my lips, ash streaming down to the ground through my clenched hands, I turned toward Mothy.


	22. The End

I could think of no worse possible outcome of my life.

If someone would have told me, when I was a little girl in the village that I was truly born in, that everything would end like this, then maybe I would have opted to stay out of it completely. Never go to the castle, never meet any of these people, never meet Len. This wasn't the first time I had thought this to myself, but there was a question still begging to be answered.

Was it all worth it?

With nothing to lose and nothing to gain, all I had was nothing. Something awful constricted my chest. Every breath I forced out of myself stung hot.

My eyes stayed locked on the hem of Mothy's dress, pooling about the forest floor in black waves. She was saying something, but I didn't even know how to make out the words anymore. I didn't know what to do at all. I clutched my head, heard the hammer inside it beat, beat, beating, away, and did the only thing I could do anymore.

I ran with every ounce of my strength toward Mothy with a ferocity and malignancy of every single moment this woman stole, ruined, and manipulated—for every life snuffed and every future predestined. After all those lifetimes watching the Sins in their most unadulterated forms, human evil in its entirety, I could safely say that no one held more anger and loathing in their hearts than I had at that moment. No one.

I swung my ax, that silly, worthless ax with the stupid red bow, hard down at where I perceived Mothy to be, but she teleported out of the way effortlessly. Instead, my blade came down on the door that would have supposedly led us out of this hell. That was where Mothy had tricked me. She had no intention of letting anyone go. There was no way out.

Choking back a sob, I scoured around wildly until I spotted Mothy a little ways off behind me. Once again, I charged. This time, I heard her say, "Stop being ridiculous," before I hacked at empty space again. Before I could repeat the cycle again, a cycle I was fully prepared to drag out for all eternity, Mothy appeared behind me and swiped the ax out of my hand, sending it sliding across the dirt. Desperately, I chased after it and held it close to my shattered heart. I hunched over on the ground, breathing erratic, fearing that if I let my mind have a tangible thought, I would relive it all again.

"Are you calmed down now?" Mothy asked in annoyance. "There's nothing you can do. You've lost, you know. You lost as soon as you became involved with tainted people."

Calm? No, I was anything but calm. My mind had been frantically searching around in the dark for something, anything, to hold onto, and at last, it grasped something tangible. Slowly rising to my feet again, I turned my grievous face toward Mothy and held her cold gaze for the first time in a while. "No," I replied evenly. "I haven't lost yet."

Her agitation simmered into a lizard-like smile. "Really?"

"Yes," I said. "The bet isn't over yet. I-I haven't broken the rules, and the terms for completion hasn't been met yet."

"You did break the rules," she retorted. "You pretend that Yukari didn't aid you, but I'm not incompetent."

 _"_ _What's your evidence for that?"_ I roared from somewhere dark inside me. Mothy seemed taken aback. "Don't bullshit your own rules! I played your game! So far, I've met your requirements! I'm not incompetent, either!"

"You haven't met all my requirements yet," Mothy hissed, though she seemed to cautiously enjoying herself. She planned to squeeze every last drop of entertainment out of us in the end.

"No one killed each other," I began. "I didn't tell anyone about our arrangement. I collected all your trinkets. I sure as shit haven't conceded to defeat."

"There's two more."

Yes, and I knew full-well what they were. "The mystery of the Sins. I think I have the general idea," I said. She motioned for me to go on. "Miku and Kaito stole Meiko's twin babies—Rin and Len—and left her to die in the woods, right? That was the Original Sin. Years later, Rin and Len killed their parents, found the magic left within her, and split it up into seven pieces. Those are your sins."

"Details, Mayu. Please."

"Gakupo was experimenting on mothers pregnant with twins, including Meiko," I huffed. "Gumi assisted him. Meiko escaped after she gave birth. Luka was his wife and ended up killing Gumi. Once Rin and Len scattered the Sins, _you_ were asked by your boss Eldoh to collect them. So, you went to the twins, and they told you. Then you began your own experiment, placing the Sins in the hearts of the sinners involved in this little tale. In fact, this was probably your experiment from even before then, as you must have made contact with Gakupo before, considering he knew who you are before your dolls conveniently interrupted our final conversation. Gakupo's experiment had to do with these Sins, somehow that transferred to Miku when she stole the babies, and then after everything happened, you continued your experimentation by reincarnating their souls and seeing what would happen. Is that enough for you?"

"Sure," Mothy said off-handedly, shrugging. "Congratulations. That still doesn't change that the last task according to our deal will never be accomplished. Somehow, you agreed to the condition that you are going to have to _convince me_ that these pitiful souls are worthy of redemption. After what you just told me, about how every single one of them is a sinner, a murderer, a thief—how would you ever convince me of that?"

"Did you enjoy watching them suffer, Mothy?" I asked suddenly.

"Huh?" she gawked. "Why, yes! I must say that I did!"

"And why?"

"Well, it was just entertaining! Watching humans fall… seeing their hopes drenched in the blood of their friends. Seeing, despite their best efforts, those they loved being torn away… It was immense fun. I've had the time of my life." She chuckled lightly, as if remembering good times.

"Then," I said with a small smile of my own. "I've already convinced you."

"You just keep _squirming,_ don't you?"

"I'm serious. Throughout this whole labyrinth of yours, you thought that you could control their actions, but really, you were giving them ample opportunity to prove you wrong. Every single one of them, despite having all their memories of pain and suffering thrust upon them, despite their initial distrust—all of them displayed at least one act of goodness, at least one act of regret and forgiveness. Every single one of them. Now, if they were pure evil, why didn't they kill each other?"

Mothy grinded her teeth together a few times to herself, undeterred but thinking. It was like she was playing a game of chess with a toddler. She knew she would win but it still required the proper moves. "Survival instincts," she finally answered. "They knew staying in a big group would increase their chances."

"Then why did they split up on multiple occasions, then?" I countered. "And, even so, why didn't they kill me when they thought I was a traitor or, even when they didn't remember each other, why didn't they kill each other then? Why did they work together and forgive each other and _cry?_ "

"Humans are weak."

"No. You're weak," I spat. "Even if you haven't admitted it, I know you acknowledge their goodness. The evidence is in your own words. You said you enjoyed seeing them drenched in the blood of their _friends,_ seeing their _loved ones_ torn away. Can evil love, Mothy? I'm pretty sure it can't. I've met you, after all, and evil can't love. At least none of them killed their own daughter, like you did to Miki. You know, you claim that the Sins are the evil within us weak human, but I know you're wrong. Then Sins are _you,_ Mothy, and you wouldn't have found pleasure in the deaths of anyone unless they were good people, because that is what you find most entertaining."

A scowl spread across her face. She tried to hide them, but her fists her shaking at her sides. "You haven't convinced me yet," she said. Her voice was filled with unparalleled malice. Well, unparalleled except for mine.

"The rules didn't state that you had to _admit_ to being convinced," I said. "All I had to do was convince you. I know I've done it, too. Now, are you willing to lie to your boss Eldoh's face and say you haven't? Can he tell when his step stools are lying to him?"

 _"_ _You know nothing of Eldoh!"_

 _"_ _Have I won, or haven't I?"_

All of a sudden, tendrils of yellow light burst out of her chest like a sun flare. The light, blinding me for a full twenty seconds, spread among the trees around me. It kept spreading and then all at once blinked out. I was in an all-black room once again, and Mothy stood there, a few of her stray blond hairs now gray at the ends. "Fine! You win!" she shouted, and with a snap of her fingers, a square of white light appeared in the ceiling. A ladder came crashing down rapidly, hitting the floor with a large, metal _bang!_ "I hope your happy. Enjoy the Promised Land. Never come back."

I looked at the ladder without much feeling at all. I knew I would not be ascending it. "I have one more proposal."

"Are you kidding me?" she scoffed, fury building up once again. "What proposal? You have nothing to offer me! Human! Leave my realm!"

"I have one thing," I said calmly, facing her fully, hand over my rapidly beating heart. "The only thing I have left. I had to win the bet first, to make it mine again, but not it will be once again my final bargaining chip. I hear souls are in high demand around these parts."

Something in Mothy flipped a switch. Her anger evaporated, replaced with intrigue. "They are," she said simply.

"Well, not to brag but, a soul like mine is probably pretty valuable. You know, seven lifetimes, and I'm clean enough to fly right up to all the angels. A soul like mine in a place like this must be very entertaining. Much more entertaining than the souls of my friends, wouldn't you say?"

"I see what you're trying to propose to me," Mothy said thoughtfully, placing a slender finger on her chin. "However, I'm afraid I cannot give you the souls of all your friends. Despite what you say, any soul is highly desirably here, _but,_ I could arrange for an even trade. A soul for a soul sounds pretty fair."

One moment of hesitation passed over me. I would have to choose who I saved, and I hated that I knew who it would be right away. "Alright then. It's a deal," I said.

"Really? That easily?" Mothy's smile grew and grew. I had never seen her this joyful before. "Well, clasp my hand, and let's make it official!"

Stomach stirring, I stepped forward. I looked at my palm a moment and then reached it out, just on the verge of skimming her fingertips. But then I was suddenly jerked away by two forceful hands, and I was staring into the tumultuous purple eyes of someone who I never thought I would see again.

"Absolutely not!" Yuka yelled, and then we weren't in the black room at all.

I collapsed onto the rough wooden floor, feeling as if I had just fallen from a great distance. Catching my breath, I remained there a moment. Shadows flickered from the warm glow of candlelight that illuminated the small room. There were no doors here, only a cramped little space occupied by a bed, a desk, one chair, and a stove. Glass bottles littered every nook and cranny, and thick books, some opened to their yellowing pages with words in a language I didn't recognize, were stacked as high as the ceiling. Yuka was standing away from me, staring intensely into the purple light that materialized from her hands. Suddenly, the lights vanished, and she turned toward me with a deeply carved frown.

"Mothy won't be able to find us here," she said. "We're in between domains. What were you thinking, anyway?"

Standing up, my body aching all over, I replied, "It was the only thing I had left to do."

"No, it wasn't!" Yuka snapped. "You should have just taken the ladder when you had the chance!"

"What good would that do?" I retorted, anger flaring up inside me again, but it was mostly the momentarily suppressed frustration of my own failures that riled me up so much. "I won't be happy anywhere if they're all down here! It's useless!"

"You _would_ have been happy. Everyone's happy up there. You wouldn't forget them, you'd just… accept that there's nothing more to be done. I mean—those are the rumors. I've never been up there myself, but—"

"But there _was_ more to be done," I interrupted. "So, I did it. I was about to, anyway, before you stepped in."

"Don't blame me! I just saved your eternal soul."

"No! I've been damned for a long time!" I looked at her pleadingly, tears dribbling down my face. "I-I can't go up there. I can't."

Sitting down on her creaky bed, she kept her eyes downward. "There's nothing we can do," she said softly. "It's over."

"Then let me make the deal."

"I can't do that."

"Why?"

"Because you're my friend."

"Then, what am I supposed to do, then?" I asked, but Yuka did not respond. She just kept staring at her own hands, hunched over in silence. After a few minutes of waiting, I took a seat at her desk and stayed there for a long time. Part of me hoped Mothy would find me and send me to where Len was, however painful that place would be. Of course, I knew better than to think selling my soul would actually let me see them again. We would be isolated from everyone for all eternity. Was Len in pain right now? Was everyone? Mothy was right about humans being weak.

"There's a way," Yuka said, voice filled with so much resignation and dread that I knew how slim success would be. Despite this, the words jolted me to my feet, and I stepped up to Yuka, crouching down to her level.

"How?" I said gently.

"We make her get them out."

"How do we do that?"

"By force." Yuka stood and began rifling through papers on her desk, mumbling to herself. After consulting a few books and looking into that strange lightening storm in her hands again, she finally turned back to me. "Magic against magic. We defeat her."

"You'd do that?"

"No. _You'd_ do that. I'm under contract with Mothy, and I've broken that contract. If I go back into Eldoh's domain, he'll send me to the deepest layers of hell, you understand. I can't be the one doing this."

I deflated. "I don't have magic."

"I know that. That's why I'm giving you some of mine."

"S-So, you give me some of your magic, I go back to Mothy, and I…?"

"You have to get her at metaphorical gunpoint, and then to spare her own life, she will do whatever you want. Even if Eldoh punishes her, she would never let a human kill her."

My mind was racing. Hope had become such a foreign concept to me. She'd do whatever I wanted? Everyone could be saved? "Is this really possible?" I asked.

"Theoretically, no. Realistically, yes."

"Theory is all I need."

"Then we should move fast." Yuka grabbed my hands and faced them palms-up. Though alarmed, I decided to not question her and let her do what she needed to do. Once again, she conjured up that purple lightening in her hands, this time murmuring words I didn't even try to decipher. Without warning, she then slammed her own hands down against mine, and I felt as if something hot and sharp shot up my arms and into my pumping heart. Yuka pulled away, letting me clasp my chest and stagger back down to the floor, that same sharp feeling now spreading all through my body. Were my hands vibrating, or was that my imagination? Gasping for air, I curled up on the ground and waited for the pain to pass.

When it did, I knew by the buzzing in my veins that I could do it.

I could defeat her.

I opened my eyes to the dark.

And yet, being as old as I was, I felt like a child, but a child with a gun. Even a child with a gun can do unspeakable damage. So, if this didn't turn out like Yuka and I had hoped, I would either kill Mothy or she would kill me. Both of these options seemed better than spending eternity in luxury. If I didn't get them back, pain would feel so much better than happiness.

I continued holding my firm stance, hands tightly gripped around the ax. I waited as Yuka had instructed me to, waited here at the edge of Mothy's world, waited for her to come and get me.

Come and get me.

Could Mothy sense magical energy? I hoped not. I wanted it to be a surprise.

No one appeared in the dark. "Hey!" I shouted. A few moments passed.

"So, you convinced your little rabbit friend to let you take the deal," Mothy's voice cut through the silence like a knife. I turned around and saw her about three dozen feet away. Even from this far away, I could tell she was eying my weapon. "Or maybe you decided to do something foolish again."

"You're going to let them come with me, up into that Better Place," I said calmly.

"A deal's a deal, Mayu. I thought you had regained your senses," she scolded, almost like a mother would scold her child. "Well, if you want to continue to struggle. I have all the time in the world." She elegantly raised a hand in the air in front of her. The ground shifted beneath my feet. All of a sudden, out of the black floor rose growing lumps of dust. They soon took shape, arms and legs and faces. They were my friends, dolls. One of each.

I didn't flinch. Closing my eyes, I focused the power inside me just as Yuka told me to do, and as soon as the first doll took a step forward, I had already reached it, ax glowing purple. I sliced right through Luka from collar bone to hip, and she fell to the floor, soon dissipating into dust and rejoining the blackness underneath. Next came a Kaito. Throughout the course of my stay here in hell, these creepy, pale monstrosities had disappeared and reappeared without much effort at all, but now I could see that there were patterns. As soon as I saw him preparing to attack, I swung my blade out to my right, just where Kaito manifested right at that moment, and befell him instantly.

"I see!" Mothy exclaimed. "I see how it is now! I should have killed that traitor when I had the chance!"

Next I hacked down a Rin, and then a Len, and then another Luka. Gumi to the right. Gakupo at the rear. Meiko and Miku at the same time. They came and went like a quiet wind, always reappearing a few moments later. My face contorted in concentration. Everything was happening so quickly, but my ax was quicker. I was slowly getting closer to Mothy. "I know you can only make so many of these!" I shouted in between waves. "Yuka told me everything!"

"That fool doesn't even have one drop of knowledge in the sea that is my craft. Stop pretending you're a hero and let them take you." Mothy raised her arm up, about to snap her fingers, and I knew she was trying to teleport away.

"No!" I yelled and rose a hand in the air. Purple fire surged out and hit a ceiling. Within seconds, it rained down to the floor, creating a cage around Mothy and me. Frowning, she proceeded to snap her fingers. Nothing happened.

"I see she had been studying behind my back," Mothy mumbled. "No matter. You can trap me here for now, but soon your magic power will deplete. It's not like you actually have any. You just stole them, forcing your savior complex onto your only remaining friend."

They were coming more rapidly now. Mothy had retreated to the edge of the cage now. She was right. I was going to run out soon. I couldn't let that happen. This was everything to me. Screaming, I clenched my fists together and then pushed them outward. A grand inferno shot out of me from all sides, creating a ring that crawled outward, killing everything in its wake. Everything except Mothy.

Before she could cast the spell again, I threw an arrow of fire. It hit her hand. She hissed in a moment of annoyance, and that was enough for me to reach her. I grabbed her wrists, recited clumsily the incantation Yuka had given me, and watched in satisfaction as the purple flames wrapping around her hands and her torso. "I can't believe it," I said to myself. "I can't believe it."

"I can't believe this!" Mothy responded, struggling underneath her new chains in frustration. I had never been this close to her face before. She looked older somehow. Uglier.

"You're going to let them come with me," I said, holding my ax up to her neck.

"You don't know what you're talking about," she replied in between labored breaths.

"I know enough. Bring them here and then snap your silly fingers and bring that ladder back. We're all going to where we're meant to be."

"I'm telling you that it's impossible!'

"Really? I guess I'll have to kill you then." Unblinkingly, I pressed the ax more harshly against her throat.

"It's impossible!" she repeated. "When you escaped, Eldoh was extremely upset. He rescinded my abilities to open a portal to the Other Place. You and all your friends are stuck down here forever!"

"I don't believe you." My voice broke. I couldn't believe her.

"It's the truth!" she contended. "You think I care enough about keeping those idiots down there that I would give up my own life? Eldoh's power is everything! I cannot go up against it!"

"I would say you have good reason to lie. You did spend a great many lifetimes dedicated to the job of making them suffer."

She laughed mirthlessly. "I'm _immortal!_ A few measly lifetimes mean nothing to me!"

"Well, then… then, what?" I asked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. After everything, after daring to hope for a happy ending, this is the outcome? _This?_

"There's nothing left for you to do, Mayu," Mothy said simply. "Now, if you'd let me go—"

"No," I stated firmly, shaking my head. "No. You… Do you still have the ability to reincarnate souls?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"Well, then this is what you're going to do. You're going to reincarnate all of us. One more lifetime in the world. And after you do that, you're going to never come near us again. You're going to let us live our lives and make our own mistakes. You're going to totally disconnect us from everything magic. A fair life."

"Haven't you lived enough?" she sputtered.

"A few lifetimes mean nothing to you," I replied, applying more pressure to her neck.

"F-Fine! Fine!" she shouted.

"And one more thing."

"What is it now?"

"You're going to do the same to Yuka. Make her human and bring her with us. Take away her powers. Nullify your contract with her."

"Now you're talking crazy!" Mothy yelled. "That little rat's done things you would never comprehend!"

"Do you want to die or are you going to do it already?" I asked. She looked at me with wide, loathing eyes. "Do it!"

"Well, you're going to have to release my hands first!"

I retracted the chains but kept my ax firmly in place. Locking her cold eyes with mine, Mothy raised her hand and snapped once.

Everything turned black.

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I was in a very colorful room. My bedroom.

I had stayed up late the night previous, reading a book my friend had gotten me as an early birthday gift, so I had trouble opening my eyes that morning. It was already pretty late on that summer Saturday, but I felt like I could sleep for decades more. Lifetimes. However, something seemed to nag at the back of my mind.

It was my eighteenth birthday. Every year, I expected to feel different when I turned a year older, but every year I was disappointed to find the same, boring life laid before me. I wasn't unthankful or particularly unsatisfied, but there always seemed to be something missing. Today was different than other birthdays. Today I felt different.

Finally forcing myself to sit up, my eyes aimlessly wandered the room, settling eventually on a poster on the wall to my left. It depicted all the main members of my favorite music group—they were known as the _Vocaloids,_ and although I didn't scream and dream over them as my friends did, I always felt like I could connect to them. My first member was definitely Kagamine Len, but I could never justify why whenever someone asked me about it. I looked at the picture of him and cocked my head to the side in confusion. Something was wrong. Was I forgetting something?

As soon as one foot hit the floor, a bomb exploded in my head. Sinking down to my knees, blanket and several pillows tumbling down with me, I gasped for air and clutched my head painfully. What was going on? Was I having a migraine?

The first memory came to me. Then another. Then more.

The noise of the city was muffled in the filthy alleyway I found myself in the very next day. It was hot and sketchy at best, but I knew now that I had lived in an alley once. Not much scared me anymore, but I have to say that I was scared right then.

"What?" the gruff man in all black asked, crossing his arms and looking down on me like I was a child. I guess I was a child, but still.

"I would like to see Yuzuki Yukari. She's the manager of the _Vocaloids,_ isn't she? I would like to see her," I demanded again.

"Do you have a pass?"

"No," I said like it didn't matter at all. The _Vocaloids_ were having a concert today, you see. I had hopped on a train without a word to my parents or anyone I knew just to be here. I wasn't going back empty-handed.

"Then, I'm afraid I can't let you in," the man said.

"Listen—" I began in irritation.

"What's the problem here?" A voice came from the open door behind him. I perked up immediately. Yuka came out with a headset on, and when she finally looked at me, she dropped the clipboard she was carrying. Picking it up immediately, she said, "It's alright. Let her in."

"Are you sure?" the man pressed.

"Definitely."

I followed her inside and then into an empty office room off the darkened corridor. After Yuka shut the door behind us, she faced me with tears in her eyes and said, "So, you remembered."

We both started laughing out of disbelief, and then we hugged and stayed there for a while.

...

"Hey, Len. Come over here," Yuka beckoned.

Len turned around. He was in casual clothes and just looked like a regular teenager. My heart was pounding out of control. Yuka had told me that no one else had gotten back their memories, but I didn't quite believe her until Len came over and looked between her and me in curiosity and unfamiliarity.

"I want you to meet my childhood friend," Yuka went on. "She's going to be working with us from now on, writing songs and stuff. You'll never hear a better pianist. This is Mayu. Mayu, this is Len."

"It's nice to meet you," I said a bit too breathlessly, bowing slightly.

Len smiled slightly and bowed as well. "It's good to meet you, too, Mayu. Um, this is going to sound kind of strange, but have I met you somewhere before?"

"Maybe," I replied. "Maybe."


End file.
